Brazil teachers to be trained to welcome immigrant, refugee students

Brazil’s Ministry of Education will train teachers to help welcome immigrant and refugee students in schools. To meet this goal, a training course was launched Thursday (Jun 9) to provide teachers with the opportunity to learn and improve their knowledge regarding the integration of these students in the country’s school and multicultural environment.

The training course will be 80 hours long and divided into two modules, with both practical and theoretical contents. The program should contribute to the creation of didactic, pedagogical, and literary material to promote students’ education and full development.

The goal is to bring teachers in contact with historical, social, political, and educational aspects surrounding the lives of refugees. Classes will be available on an online platform.

Multiculturalism

The training is said to be in line with Operação Acolhida (“Operation Shelter”), a task force assembled in March 2018 to receive Venezuelan immigrants and refugees arriving in Brazil.

According to Bernardo Laferté, chair of the Justice Ministry’s Committee for Refugees, “the migration policy is a completely cross-sectional and encompasses all aspects of life, including the linguistic aspect,” he said.

“The apparatus [for this policy] is not only based on a state and governmental framework, but also on United Nations agencies and society, crucial as their role is in welcoming and integrating, as all aspects of human life are connected,” he added. After entering the country, immigrants are given a taxpayer number, an employment booklet, and a vaccination card before being regarded as “ready to move on.”

“If they have a child, the child will be Brazilian and need to be integrated into society under a long-term policy, since [families] bring in knowledge that Brazilians don’t have. This is very enriching. We cannot see it as a financial burden, not least because they will be added to our productive market,” he pointed out.

Obstacles

As it stands today, over 57 thousand people in Brazil have recognized refugee status, said Renato Brito, director for Teacher Training. “Sadly, refugee children are 53 percent less likely to go to school than Brazilian children. Access to the country’s school system becomes difficult as a result of such factors as bureaucratic, social, cultural, and linguistic barriers.” This is the context in which the program is designed to be helpful, the director noted.