Iceland is considering creating separate schools for children of asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees in a move which critics have blasted for breaking a United Nations convention.
A committee from the Icelandic capital Reykjavik are reportedly considering creating a school for the children of foreigners near the current Vogaskoli school.
The committee reportedly suggest that children aged between eight and 15 years old should attend the special school for nine months before returning to their normal schools.
Helgi Grimsson, the Director of Reykjavik City’s Department of Education and Youth says the immigrants’ school would help the children with the “nourishment and shelter they need”.
Grimsson says the school would help the give the children the “professional help they require”.
However, the Director of Special Education at the Vogaskoli school, Helga Helgadottir, criticised the proposal, calling it completely contradictory to what the school is trying to achieve.
Helgadottir said the proposal would represent a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child along with Icelandic laws on elementary schools.
All children in compulsory education in Iceland are given the right to attend a school which does not “marginalise” them.
Asthildur Linnet, a project manager with the Red Cross, says that the children of refugees should be given the chance to “become carefree” in Iceland and the focus should be on their happiness.
It is unclear if the proposal has been accepted.
