A yellow bus sponsored by the Co-operative Schools Network has become a pop-up school for refugee children in Calais, France.
The initiative is based on the idea of sharing learning expertise and has been funded through a crowdfunding campaign launched by the Co-op Schools Network.
Around 70 refugee children meet inside the bus twice a day where they participate in discussions, music sessions and learning activities. They receive support with improving their English and touch upon themes like identity, health and wellbeing, art and place. The bus provides a shelter where they can play games and cards and study while staying warm. The youngest student is aged 10 and comes from Afghanistan.
The refugee camp known as the Calais Jungle was demolished nine months ago leaving many refugee children without shelters. It is estimated that over 200 child refugees are living rough in Calais, where they have no sanitation or clean water, in an environment that places their lives in danger.
“Our students are living in scrubland, bushes and wild patches while being routinely sprayed with gas and pepper spray by the authorities. They are kicked and moved on,” said Jon O’Connor, UK project lead for the scheme.
The project is led by a team of unpaid volunteers, including some of the refugees themselves. The driver and two lead educators are joined by volunteers from other projects including Help Refugees, Refugee Youth Service and Refugee InfoBus.
The School Bus Project was set up in 2015 to support refugee education, in response to the crisis in France. Between 2015 and 2016 the team developed lesson plans, training and mobile school resources. In addition to the Big Yellow Bus, they also run a red minibus with 17 seats.
Now a registered UK charity, the School Bus Project has run refugee education projects in Calais as well as other countries. Over the past 12 months the team has funded four months of primary maths teaching in camps in northern Greece, provided transport for Kent Refugee Action Network field visits and curriculum enrichment and supported a UK based refugee catering employment training project.
Mr O’Connor said: “It’s been hugely rewarding to be part of a movement of volunteers and organisations who provide services that recognise that these are human beings, that they are people. We work alongside cooks, clothing and footwear suppliers, people who provide sleeping bags to replace the ones taken by police officers to try to restore some minimal conditions of humanity.”
He added: “Our own work has been a good experience for all concerned in that we are helping learners, right the way across the age range from 10 up to 35. They are increasing their knowledge and skills in English and, for instance, in activities that have an arts basis such as using clay.”
He says there are “impressive levels of knowledge and education” among the learners some of whom put their “extraordinary command of languages” to use helping the team with translation work.
“We are trying to respect their rights and provide education and experience,” he added.
“The refugees and migrants we work with come to distribution points where they have access to some toilet facilities, food, water, clothing and medical care. The school bus does have the virtue of being a mobile space – we work seven days a week, two sessions a day.”
Mr O’Connor does not expect the situation in Calais to be solved any time soon.
“The backdrop is a situation which can only be resolved by policy change and political will and that can’t come soon enough,” he said.
“Looking into 2018 it seems unlikely that we will not see more refugees whose ultimate goal is to get to the UK and there will be those who wish to develop and learn with us. We hope to continue in the Calais area and provide additional vehicles converted for learning spaces, bring in more and set up volunteers and teams to work with people.”
The team is now looking to crowdfund more resources through Kickstarter, to provide new vehicles and learning spaces.
“We want to place them where a local community can sustain the operation, and we retreat into background – we don’t want to own a fleet,” said Mr O’Connor. “It would very helpful if people support us.”
- If you want to help the project, email info@schoolbusproject.org
