Author
Access to education for child beneficiaries is equal to that of child asylum-applicants. This means that children immediately have the right to go to school and are obliged to receive schooling from 6 years old until their 18th birthday. Early childhood education starts at the age of 2.5 year. Children have to be enrolled in a school within 60 days following their registration in the Aliens Register. Classes with adapted course packages and teaching methods, the so-called ‘bridging classes’ (in the French speaking Community schools: DASPA)[1]) and ‘reception classes’ (in the Flemish Community schools: OKAN)[2], are organised for children of newly arrived migrants, a category which includes children of beneficiaries of international protection. Those children are later integrated in regular classes once they are considered ready for it.
In practice, the capacity of some local schools is not always sufficient to absorb all non-Dutch speaking children entitled to education. Although no numbers were available for 2024, several sources reported shortages in certain regions.[3] Most reports came from guardians of unaccompanied minors. Although no data are available on the size of the deficit, across Flanders as a whole there are probably several hundred places lacking. Besides the lack of a central registration register for OKAN pupils for all of Flanders, an informal new practice that foreign-language newcomers who are already 17.5 years or older are no longer allowed to register for OKAN education has been reported.[4]
[1] Federation Wallonia-Brussels, ‘I’ve just arrived in Belgium and my child doesn’t speak any word in French’, available in English here (last consulted on 3 April 2025).
[2] Flemish government, ‘Reception classes for newcomers speaking another language’, available in Dutch here (last consulted on 3 April 2025).
[3] GVA, ‘200 students on waiting list for OKAN-class in Antwerp: “Every week, 10 extra students are added’, 10 May 2024, available in Dutch here; Nieuwsblad, ‘Shortage of OKAN-classes in Lier, guardian calls to action: “Education is a right that is currently not respected”’, 13 March 2024, available in Dutch here.
[4] Children’s Rights Commissionar, ‘Year report 2023-2024’, available in Dutch here.