School curricula need to reflect strands of the different cultures brought in by migrants, according to Raymond Facciol, an Education Ministry official.
“We need to ensure that our curricula reflect a multi-ethnic and multi-language society and we have, in the meantime, started creating an outreach programme with parents of migrant children,” he told a conference on integration yesterday.
Mr Facciol, assistant director at the department of curriculum management, said that three years ago the State school population was dwindling.
However, there had been a substantial increase in child migration over the last couple of years.
Between July of 2013 and November of 2014, 1,537 migrant pupils were registered at public primary schools.
About 550 of these were provided with a six-week induction course, he said, noting that even European migrants, such as Italian children, had language challenges.
“Migrants are a potential asset and bring a cultural wealth that can be exploited to enrich the whole classroom. Just look at these drawings,” he said, showing, among others, a picture by a Spanish schoolgirl who likes music.
Some drawings, however, may show the trauma of war.
“Although we have very few refugee children, this is also what we have in our schools at the moment,” he said, as the hall fell silent when a drawing by a seven-year-old Syrian girl was projected on the screen behind him.
The detailed drawing shows a crying girl kneeling behind her mother who has blood gushing out of three bullet holes in her stomach. People around the mother and child also seem to be crying and, in the centre of the drawing, a grenade is spiralling towards the ground.
At the bottom of the drawing, two laughing soldiers are making off with the weapon that killed the mother.
“At school, we also need psychosocial support to bring out such repressed problems and emotions,” Mr Facciol said.
A framework document listing recommendations for a national migrant integration strategy, which will be adopted by the end of the year, was launched at the conference.
Silvan Agius, from the Social Dialogue Ministry, said the government initially started discussions with NGOs and individuals. A project called ‘Mind the gap’, which included public consultation and a national survey, was then launched to shape the proposed integration strategy.
The document launched yesterday recommends, among others, reviewing the national curriculum framework at schools to ensure the inclusion of themes such as multicultural diversity and the understanding of different religious beliefs.
It also suggests recognising the importance of family reunification that allows for the broadening of what is meant with ‘family’ to include partners and other dependents.
Civil Liberties Minister Helena Dalli spoke of the importance of integration.
“This is today’s reality... The world has grown smaller and is more globalised. Many Maltese settled in other EU countries and Europeans settled in Malta. So can TCNs who qualify to study here or seek asylum,” she said.
Dr Dalli noted that, although not everyone qualified to remain in Malta forever, these people should still feel part of society for as long as they are here.
The opposite of integration, she noted, was disintegration.
Human rights NGO Aditus also launched a document yesterday, which is the second part of a project called the ‘Malta integration network’ that identifies best practices and gaps in Malta’s legal and policy approach to the integration of TCNs.
This second document lists indicators explaining how to go about the implementation of recommendations, such as the setting up of a consultative council that the government should seek advice from on legislative and policy issues affecting migrants.
Do you know your non-Maltese neighbour?
• 56% know a foreign resident by name.
• Nearly two fifths of pensioners know a non-Maltese resident.
• Half are unfamiliar with the term integration.
• 49% believe the government should enact an integration policy.