In recent weeks, more and more schools in North Holland have children from Ukraine in their class; so is the Bergense Van Reenen School. Last week there were less than ten, now there are already 31 children from Ukraine in primary school. Director Wijbe van der Meer tells NH Nieuws how that works.
It is quite busy for the teachers, but Ukrainian children ‘just like other children have the right to education’, says Van der Meer. “If there is that opportunity, and it is with us so far, I think they can take advantage of it.”
It is a bit of a puzzle for teachers: “They wonder: how are we going to organize this? There is a difference between one new student in the class, or six, seven or eight. That is quite an organisation.” But with the help of volunteers it’s all going ‘excellent’.
It takes some getting used to for the children, says Van der Meer. Especially because they don’t speak the Dutch language. “Fortunately, children pick up a language a lot faster than adults. I now know three words in Ukrainian, but the children already know about thirty Dutch words. That goes pretty quickly.”
The Ukrainian students who are now at the Van Reenen School are mainly children who do not come from a violent war zone, says the director. “It is mainly people who were able to come to the Netherlands quickly because they have contacts here, for example.” A number of children come from the war zone, but their parents still tell the school that ‘we don’t have to take serious events into account’.
In that sense, according to the director, teaching Ukrainian refugees is different from teaching Syrian refugees: “We also had them at school. They really came from war zones and certainly had significant traumatic experiences. You can see that when they come to school and how they receive the education.”
That is why Van der Meer is more afraid of the Ukrainian children who are now coming to the Netherlands: “Especially when they come from the Ukrainian eastern border. I think there will be much more problems there,” said the director.
Listen to the whole conversation with Wijbe van der Meer in the Lunchroom podcast†