Nursery places shut to refugee children

School places for asylum-seekers in Glasgow, which now has more than 600 such children in its schools, are funded through a contract between Glasgow City Council and the National Asylum Support Service, the arm of the Home Office which deals with asylum-seekers. But the contract covers only school provision and does not supply funding for the under-fives.

The charity Children in Scotland described the plight of one Iranian refugee and her child in last month's issue of its magazine. The woman in this case study, who asked not to be identified, lived in a tower block in Sighthill in Glasgow, where many of the refugees suffered harassment from their neighbours that made life so threatening they considered it unsafe to allow a child to play outside.

The article said, 'While grateful to have escaped from danger in her home country, her primary concern was now for her son's safety and well-being. This small four-year-old was unable to get a nursery place, which meant he was denied access to other children on a regular basis. He had no friends, no place to play, and spent much of his time isolated and alone.'

Glasgow Council is in discussion with the Scottish Executive to consider ways of providing a service to pre-school children.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Refugee Council said that it was 'deeply concerned' about the lack of pre-school provision for children of asylum-seekers. 'Not only does it impede the settlement of pre-school children, their ability to learn English and their preparation for mainstream schooling, but it can also hinder the integration of mothers, as they have to care for their children rather than fully start the process of rebuilding their lives.'

It is a similar story in England, where children in detention centres have no right to a pre-school place, and it is at the discretion of local education authorities whether they provide pre-school education for those living in the community. Central government does not allocate them any specific funding for this purpose.

A spokesman for Save the Children said, 'These children have been through all manner of unspeakable suffering, and often they don't have competent English. The sooner they can get into education here, the sooner they'll get the benefits. In the long term, this probably reduces the amount of special education they will need later on.'

Save the Children launched a campaign last month to urge the Government to end discrimination against children seeking asylum and to remove the UK's reservation on immigration and nationality from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Director Mike Aaronson said, 'Children seeking asylum are children first and foremost and should be treated as such.... There is no such thing as a "bogus" child.'

* See special report, p10