Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Education and Supports Provision for Displaced Ukrainian Students: Discussion

Ms Nuala Ward:

We have very few complaints about the provision of education for Ukrainian students. We have translated our complaints form into Ukrainian. We are going to engage with the NGO sector. We will have a webinar in the coming weeks to promote our office's redress mechanism for people who may have a complaint about any public service or school on the education they receive in Ireland. We hope that will help raise awareness of our office and how we can help.

The only issue that has recently arisen is exactly what has been spoken about earlier, namely, schools being able to access English language supports for children that are not from Ukraine. There are two different systems in place at the moment. That is obviously a serious concern for our office. If a direct provision centre has opened in an area or there has been an increase in the number of children coming from different countries, it is important for schools to be supported. It is not about the pathway to protection. That cannot be the consideration. It must be about the needs of the children. If children need support to develop fluency in English, there can be no discrimination about that. It must be a children's rights issue and assessing the needs of children. Is Deputy O'Sullivan asking about children in direct provision and their access to education?