The unaccompanied minor refugees (amv’ers) who are taken care of in Diever will not receive any education for the time being. That says mayor Rikus Jager of the municipality of Westerveld. The municipality is obliged to facilitate education for refugees, but all International Transition Classes in the area are full.
“We will have to look for a solution together. We may start thinking about a ‘satellite location’ of one of the schools here in the municipality,” says Jager, referring to an annex of one of the existing schools.
Today the municipality receives the first unaccompanied minors in Diever. They move into the former hotel de Berkenheuvel and are supervised here 24/7. In total, the municipality has fifty beds for minors available on this site, which are used to the full.
It was already known that the influx of minor refugees into education is difficult to keep up with. For example, the International Transition Class (ISK) of the Dr. Nassau College in Assen introduced a stop for students in February. Now all other schools appear to be full as well.
Nevertheless, the municipality of Westerveld welcomes the refugees today. According to the mayor, the alternative is worse. “Together we want to prevent us from seeing images again in which children and adults have to sleep in tents or outside the gate in Ter Apel. That was the reason for us to take that step forward.”
Sometime next month, various organizations in Westerveld will come together to find a solution for the education question.
Watch the explanation of mayor Rikus Jager here: