11/7/2023 0 Comments Equally downcast![]() In contrast, Elafskolan, offers several hours of Assyrian every week, including weekend courses, as well as extra classes in Swedish. “And the Assyrian students were all at different skill levels, which could be problematic.” “We had one lesson a week in Assyrian, which wasn’t sufficient at all,” she says. Kara Hermez, a 24-year-old master’s student at Stockholm University, says that although her own education as an Assyrian at a Swedish secondary school in Södertälje encouraged her to take part in Swedish cultural events, the Assyrian-education resources for non-Swedish students were limited. “The Assyrian community really appreciates the freedom they found here.” ![]() In Sweden’s traditional public-school system, lessons in a “mother tongue” are an optional add-on, but at Elafskolan it’s compulsory for students to learn Assyrian. There’s an extra emphasis on language lessons, too. Similar to a charter school, Elafskolan follows the standard Swedish curriculum to receive state funding yet has customized its syllabus to include classes on Assyrian history, music, and culture. Located in a 19 th-century summer house, the school’s arched windows, high ceilings, and relatively small student body create a family-like atmosphere. Meanwhile, Rhawi’s concerns raise another pressing question that hums through the corridors of Elafskolan, whose 101 pupils are almost exclusively of Assyrian descent, whether born in Sweden to migrant families or recent arrivals: Should refugee children in Sweden, and elsewhere, join the current education system or do they require their own programs? Does a targeted curriculum encourage integration or segregation?Įlafskolan is an attempt to solve these questions. Should Sweden dismantle parts of its welfare system to cope with the up to 10,000 refugees who, last November, arrived at its borders in one week? It gets complicated. Should Swedish children, hypothetically, give up a free school lunch to help children under threat? Probably. Rhawi’s proposition is emblematic of the current conversation throughout Europe. The money can be used for the thousands of children who need food instead.” “Kids are dying trying to cross the Mediterranean. “Some Swedish parents can afford to pay for the kid’s lunches-it doesn’t have to be for free,” he says. Aware that the border closure will make it increasingly difficult for refugees to reach Sweden, Rhawi suggests a budgetary measure to compensate: The Swedish government could stop providing free lunch to all of its students, and instead allocate those funds toward immigrants. ![]() The decision will have a sharp impact on Södertälje, where migrant families maintain strong links to Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. “A member of the municipality called me to ask if we have any room for refugees at the federation as they’re sleeping outside in the cold. They now make up 25 percent of Södertälje’s population, the largest Assyrian population per capita outside of the Middle East.Īfram Yakoub, the chairman of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden, is equally downcast about the Swedish government’s announcement, although he doubts that it would close its borders unnecessarily. The Assyrian community, which first began emigrating to Södertälje in the 1970s as part of a recruitment drive for the truck manufacturer Scania AB, has recently grown rapidly due to waves of refugees from the Iraq war and current Syrian conflict. He has worked at the school since it opened in 2014 in Södertälje, a suburban city on Stockholm’s commuter belt often nicknamed “Sweden’s Aleppo” due to its dense population of Assyrians and other Middle Eastern Christian sects. But I think we can do better,” says Rhawi, a popular math teacher (“I get ten hugs a day”) recently promoted to his leadership role. A country shouldn’t take people in if it can’t take care of them, and maybe we’ve reached that level. The headmaster wonders if more could be done. The deputy prime minister, Åsa Romson, cried as she made the announcement at a press conference. ![]() The day before, in late November, the Swedish government announced it would no longer be able to continue its open-door policy for refugees. Instead, the conversation soon turns from the Syriac alphabet to crisis. Sitting in the office of Elafskolan, the only school in Europe with a curriculum specifically designed for Assyrian children, the headmaster nurses a black coffee, prepared to answer questions on the school’s bilingual program. Shabo Rhawi is clearly vexed during our first meeting.
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