Catholic School in South Africa to Offer “fulltime primary education” for Refugee Children

Since 2008, Sacred Heart College has, through the Three2Six initiative and other partnerships, facilitated the provision of primary school education and meals for refugee, migrant, and asylum-seeking children.

The initiative expanded to two other Johannesburg-based campuses that include Observatory Girls’ Primary School and Holy Family College.

Ms. Blanckensee further explained that for over 13 years, the school of the Marist Brothers has not only provided quality primary school education to refugee children, but also assisted refugee children have access to proper documentation to enable them to proceed to high school. 

She highlighted the success story of the Catholic institution, saying, “Our Three2Six program ran from three until six, but interestingly enough, our students exited at Grade six as well, and so they very successfully transitioned into state schools because the project is designed to facilitate that move into Grade seven.”

The Head of Sacred Heart High School regretted the fact that in recent times, there was a rise in the dropout of refugee school children transitioning to high school, attributing the phenomenon to a new registration system.

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“Our research started to show recently that when they needed to move into high school, there was a significant dropout rate,” she said, and underscored the limitations of “having to register online and pay registration fees” as hindrances to many refugee children.

“All those things which we would have facilitated going from grade six to grade seven were no longer available,” Ms. Blanckensee told ACI Africa during the July 11 interview.

“We're incredibly excited to be able to achieve a dream that we've held for a number of years,” she went on to say, adding that the new campus will allow for the “creation of a vocational school”.

She described the acquisition of Dominican Convent School that is to host “Sacred Heart College and for the Institute of the Marist Brothers” as “an incredible opportunity”.

Ms. Blanckensee added, “The idea is to look for additional funding to help refugee children enroll into grade eight and grade nine, and ultimately on this vocation track. That is critically important for us as well; it's about providing further opportunities for our migrant and refugee children.”

If the vocational school is established, she said, students will be enabled “to enter into particular trades such as artisanship that will allow them to enter the workplace with skills to create their own businesses and create jobs.”

The relocation of the Three2Six initiative to the new campus “will strengthen the social cohesion dimension of the Project”, she said, adding, “Our students will also maintain their involvement with Three2Six through our community service program.” 

“We will continue with our advocacy activities to ensure that our work maintains its profile, as well as to ensure that we influence policymakers to take the education of refugees and migrants seriously”, said Ms. Blanckensee during the July 11 interview with ACI Africa.

Sheila Pires is a veteran radio and television Mozambican journalist based in South Africa. She studied communications at the University of South Africa. She is passionate about writing on the works of the Church through Catholic journalism.