This qualitative research was aimed at discovering whether or not the refugees in Egypt have access to education. A semi-structured interview was carried out on two participants who are refugees in Egypt. The interviews were not limited to the two interviewees’ case only, they were also asked about their family members’ situation. Few refugees get access to education while they are in Egypt. The participants mentioned that they had not received any education in Egypt. The educational experience they had acquired from their previous country that they were living in. Organizations like UNHCR and AUC Star located in Egypt work towards providing refugees with education, medical assistance, and job opportunities. AUC Star is only working toward providing English language courses for refugees at the time being. UNHCR offers refugees with legal protection that no other organization can do.
Introduction
Refugees are people who are forced to cross an international border because of fear of being persecuted in their home country. The population of refugees has continued to increase globally. Egypt being one of the hosts is the home to refugees from various countries including Sudan, Iraq, and Syria (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). Cairo has been known throughout history for its cosmopolitan nature which attracts different groups of people worldwide. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that Egypt hosts refugees from over 34 nations and most of them are from Africa (UNHCR, 2017). The refugees in Egypt are expected to apply for asylum; however, not all of them are guaranteed that they will be accepted. The most significant percentage of refugees in Egypt are Sudanese. They are also the most who are protected by UNHCR in this country (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). Initially, the Northern Sudanese migrated to Egypt for holiday vacations, medical treatment, business, and education. However, the outbreak of war in Sudan caused a lot of the residents to flee to the neighboring countries including Egypt. Many refugees in the region prefer Egypt since it has one of the most suitable resettlement options that are available to them.
The study was aimed at discovering whether or not refugees in Cairo, Egypt have access to education. Although Egypt ratified the UN’s 1951 Convection concerning the status of refugees, it has several reservations when it comes to social security, rationing, education, public relief, personal status, and labor (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). Egypt refused to endorse Article 22 of the 1951 Convection since it required the country to treat the refugees the same way they handled the nationals. Refugee education relies on the relationship between the nation-state and the population that seeks to be educated. The research will explore refugee education in Egypt.
Literature Review
Generally Understanding Refugees
In her article, Dryden-Peterson Susan described refugees as individuals who cross an international border due to the fear of being persecuted (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). The population of refugees moving across international borders is the highest ever recorded in history. Their migration is as a result of conflict and persecution. The refugee children who move to Australia, Europe, and North America usually have previous educational experiences. The author argues that the conceptual knowledge of the refugee education can be gathered from the contemporary conditions of conflict (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). It provides information about the theoretical and practical importance of these pre-resettlement education experiences to the refugee children’s post-resettlement education.
The author drew information from three datasets: ethnographic field-based case studies, key informant interviews, UNHCR data on refugee access to education. The leading cause of the increase in refugees’ population is decades old conflicts in nations like Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan, for example. The conflicts result from politics, civil war, and ethnic cleansing. Contemporary conflicts destroy schools and civilian infrastructure. Also, it may be deadly for the citizens of the affected nation.
The information provided by UNHCR is mainly meant for partners, private donors, the government, and any other group that is interested in the organization’s budget and priorities in 2018-2019 (UNHCR, 2017). The organization’s primary goal is to protect the well-being and rights of refugees. Also, it tries to ensure that every refugee has the right to seek asylum in another country.
Refugees’ Infographics and Integration
Dryden-Peterson states that there are approximately 19.2 million refugees globally. Half of the population is made up of children. Roughly 86 percent of the refugees reside in low income nations that neighbor their countries of origin. An estimate of 1 percent of all refugees get access to resettlement which allows them to settle permanently in the developed countries. In 2014, 73,008 refugees, 67 %, were resettled in the United States. Ten percent were resettled in Canada, 8 percent in Australia, and the remaining 15 percent in Europe (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). The total number of resettled refugees has increased by 90 percent since 2005. The continuing conflicts indicate that the numbers will continue to rise (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). Between 2002 and 2013, the United States resettled approximately 154,680 children between the age of 5 and 18 from 113 nations.
According to data collected in January 2017, UNHCR gathered a total population of concern of 67,749,838 people (UNHCR, 2017). The population entails refugees, people in refugee-like situations, refugees assisted by UNHCR, asylum-seekers, returned refugees, internally displaced person (IDPs) assisted by UNHCR, returned IDPs, stateless people, and other related groups.
Jaswant Kaur Bajwa’s article discussed the expectations, barriers, needs, and experiences of the survivors of war. The survivors reported to have informational obstacles to education, professional assistance, navigate immigration systems, and delayed educational systems which lead to mental health distress (Bajwa, 2017). In Canada, most refugees face lower rates of access to post-secondary education compared to the newcomers. Lack of access to higher education contributes to unemployment, underemployment, and among refugees.
In her article, Nadia El-Shaarawi, discusses the interplay of spatial and temporal uncertainty in Iraqi refugees in Egypt. It shows how uncertainty leads to distress. The Iraqi refugees claimed that they were “living in transit” in Cairo (El-Shaarawi, 2015). A proposed solution to the issue is resettlement. As a result of the shrinkage of global asylum space and global inequalities in responsibility among refugees, a considerable population of the refugees were displaced for a long duration of time in camp and urban contexts.
Education for Refugees Outside Egypt
The 1951 Convection was formed to give international norms which define a refugee, the legal duties of the country, and the refugee rights. It discusses the right to education for both children and adult refugees (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). The Convention requires states to treat refugees like the nationals regarding elementary education. Malaysia and Bangladesh have not yet ratified the 1951 Convention. For this reason, refugees are not guaranteed the right to access education in these countries. Turkey is one of the nations that offer education to refugees. Most of the refugee children are not fluent in English, and they require support to improve on it. Only the refugees who have been registered are in schools. In 2014, UNHCR stated that 50 percent of refugees had access to primary school education (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). Twenty-five percent of refugees can obtain secondary education in the countries of first asylum. However, the data varies depending on the country.
In 2017, UNHCR reported that 4 million refugee children were not enrolled in school. Children receive only two hours of education in Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh (UNHCR, 2017). The total number of refugees who manage to join secondary school is less than a quarter of the total population. One percent of this population manages to enter institutions of higher education.
Refugees experience informational barriers when accessing education, immigration systems, and professional assistance. Despite the refugees having aspirations to further their studies, they face obstacles in their search for post-secondary education (Bajwa, 2017). Lack of support and preparation results in informational barrier among the refugees. Dryden-Peterson stated that access to education rights varies despite the international conventions (Dryden-Peterson, 2016). Refugee education is affected by the relationship between refugees and the host country.
Education for Refugees in Egypt
Grabska discusses the marginalization of the Sudanese refugees in Egypt. The Sudanese refugees faced a terrorist attack in their quest for education (Grabska, 2016). While protesting in Cairo, 28 Sudanese refugees were killed by the police forces. Also, there are several illegal refugees in Egypt. Egypt took international obligations to ensure that the refugees residing in their territory have rights and access to asylum. Some of the rejected refugees try to acquire legal permits through enrolling in universities, getting Egyptian driving licenses, and renewing their documents by using the Sudanese opposition parties established in Cairo.
Several restrictions exist in the refugee children’s right to state-funded education. Before 1995, Sudanese people had full access to education like the citizens according to the Wadi El Nil agreement. However, the agreement was revoked when President Mubarak was almost killed by Sudanese Islamists, and they were treated like any other foreigners in the nation (Grabska, 2016). Despite the presence of restrictions, Sudanese people can still get educational grants from UNHCR via CRS for both adult literacy and children schooling. Some refugees manage to get vocational training offered by UNHCR and community organizations.
Even though registered Sudanese children have the right to public education, their education is affected by racial discrimination, bureaucratic processes, and overcrowding at the government schools ((Grabska, 2016). As a result, most of them end up going to refugee schools established by churches. However, some of the church schools only accept Christian students, and they offer unaccredited primary education. The children of the rejected refugees cannot do the Egyptian state examinations thus none of them can graduate with a valid diploma. Refugee parents struggle to provide their children with education due to the high cost of transportation, books, and school fees.
Henry Hani explains the trauma and cultural adjustment in Egypt (Henry, 2012). Six African refugees were interviewed for this research. The refugees find it hard to integrate the Egyptian culture and to deal with the difficult political atmosphere in Egypt. Also, most of the Africa refugees are not permitted to access public education.
Methodology
Ethical Standards of Research
Before starting the conduction of the study, it was ensured that the subject matter of the study was in line with the institutional guideline principles. The respondents were told that the information they will provide would be shared with the concerned course department and the course professor. However, their identity will remain anonymous at all time. The participants were notified that the only information to be shared would be the interview outcome only. The participant names and gander type are to remain anonymous and private at all time whether it is online or offline.
For privacy matters, the interviews were carried out in a room where only the interviewer and the interviewee were present. The interviews were conducted separately to assure the participants of utmost privacy and security of the information they provided. Before taking part in the interview, the participants were informed with all terms, conditions, and the reason behind this interview.
The interviewee was informed that he/she is allowed to withdraw from the interview at any time they wanted or to skip any question(s) if they felt uncomfortable. There was no psychological harm or irritation during the interview. In addition, the participants were informed that there is no video or voice recordings of their interview. Symbol letters were used in the results section instead of using the interviewees real name.
Sample
A purposive sample was utilized for the research. Both the respondents had some history of being refugees in Egypt. This type of sample is a non-representative subset of a more significant population and is created to serve a specific purpose. A purposive sample was chosen since the research was aimed at a particular group which is refugees who are members of AUC Star. Two respondents were interviewed; the scope of the interview focused on their personal case and on their family members only. Thus, two persons were interviewed and a total of 11 people, sum of both family members, were taken in consideration while collecting the data of the interviews.
Method
Semi-structured interviews were implemented because they allow the use of open-ended questions and the respondents and interviewer can discuss various themes that may arise during the interview. Also, semi-structured interviews enabled the interviewer to divert a bit from the list of interview questions towards the flow of the conversation. A total of 15 questions were prepared for the interview. All the questions were written in English, but the questions were translated to Arabic for the interviewees to assure their full understanding of all questions. Since there are differences in the Arabic dialogue between the interviewer and the interviewees, some of the Arabic words and sentences were not understood from both sides and some of questions and answers were discussed in English.
Procedure
The data collection of the interviews was conducted in total of four separate days. The questions were shown to the participants before the interview started and the answers were typed on the laptop while conducting the interview. Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes. In total, two interviews were carried out.
Results
Both participants claimed to have some association with Saudi Arabia. One was born there, and the other one lived there during their search for asylum. All the participants were residing in Egypt at the time of the study. The applications of three relatives of the participants for refuge in Egypt had been accepted under UNHCR, the application for five other relatives was still pending and they were expecting the results to be out soon. However, two other relatives of the participants were denied asylum and they legalized their stay in Egypt through joining the universities. The participants stated that they received a lot of assistance from organizations like UN regarding their education. Also, they depend on UN for employment. They left their CVs at the UN offices, and they get called if there is a vacancy matching their qualifications. However, one of the participants mentioned that the brother got a job, but the payment was too low. Most of the respondents received no education in Egypt.
X: All the schooling years was in KSA. After high school in KSA, she left the country and didn’t continue her education.
Y: Completed high school in KSA.
The respondents stated that they received no education in Egypt. One claimed that UNHCR provided refugees with scholarships and she was waiting for their response since she applied. Another program that supports the education of refugees is AUC Star program. It provides them with English classes to help them improve their English.
Discussion
The results clearly show that most refugees move from one asylum to another. The respondents report having received education in Saudi Arabia before relocating to Egypt. In Egypt, most of the refugees have not been lucky to continue with their academics. Once they arrive in Egypt, the refugees are expected to apply for asylum. However, not all of them are accepted. The ones who are not accepted try to find ways in which they can legalize their stay in Egypt. The participants only receive assistance from organizations like the UNHCR and AUC star. The refugees depend on UNHCR for education, medical attention, and employment.
None of the respondents mentioned ever receiving proper education in Egypt. It is clear that the refugees in Egypt are denied access to proper education especially the ones who have not been registered. It shows that the refugees are not receiving the same treatment as the locals as stated in the 1951 Convention (Dryden-Peterson, 2016). Refugees have less access to education and employment. Those who get employed receive a low income. The state of refugees in Egypt is not desirable. The efforts to provide the refugees with the basic needs like education and medical care is witnessed in organizations like UNHCR and AUC Star. It is possible for the refugees to get education in the Universities in Egypt but a small percentage of them enroll there. None of the respondents mentioned receiving any assistance from the Egyptian government. It shows that the Egyptian government puts minimal efforts if any, to assist the refugees.
Conclusion
The data collected from the research indicated that refugees in Egypt have little access to education. Even though Egypt ratified the 1951 Convention, it still has restrictions on the services offered to refugees. The refugees in Egypt are not treated the same as the nationals. The registered refugees are at an advantage compared to the unregistered ones because the registered ones can get help from UNHCR.
Limitations
Even though the research method was useful in gathering information about the refugee education in Egypt, it had several limitations. One of the major limitations was the refugees, regardless of their nationalities, had constant fear when they heard that I wanted to interview them. They all feared that I might be from the police department or from the UNHCR. Even though I had identified myself, showed my ID, and explained why I wanted to interview them, they were all somehow suspicious about me and they had a belief that I might somehow cause them trouble. Another limitation was sample accessibility. The targeted sample was not easy to find and there were many refugees, but they were only provided one class per week by AUC Star in AUC old campus. It took three weeks to get a sizable sample that could be used to gather information on the subject matter. Also, one of the respondents was late for the interview which resulted in four days of carrying out the interviews instead of two.
Recommendations
Based on the data collected, the Egyptian government should provide refugees with some of their needs like education, medical assistance, and job opportunities. Egypt should try to adhere to the 1951 Convention that expects them to treat the refugees in the same way they treat nationals. Also, Egypt should work alongside non-profit organizations like UNHCR to provide better care to the refugees because it hosts many of them.
References
Bajwa, J. K., Couto, S., Kidd, S., Markoulakis, R., Abai, M., " McKenzie, K. (2017). Refugees, higher education, and informational barriers. Refuge, 33(2), 56.
Dryden-Peterson, S. (2015). Refugee education in countries of first asylum: Breaking open the black box of pre-resettlement experiences. Theory and Research in Education, 14(2), 131-148. doi:10.1177/1477878515622703.
Dryden-Peterson, S. (2016). Refugee education: The crossroads of globalization. Educational Researcher, 45(9), 473-482. doi:10.3102/0013189X16683398
El-Shaarawi, N. (2015). Living an uncertain future: Temporality, uncertainty, and well-being among Iraqi refugees in Egypt. Social Analysis, 59(1), 38-56. 10.3167/sa.2015.590103.
Grabska, K. (2006). Marginalization in urban spaces of the global south: Urban refugees in Cairo. Journal of Refugee Studies, 19(3), 287-307. doi:10.1093/jrs/fel014
Henry, H. M. (2012). African refugees in Egypt: Trauma, loss, and cultural adjustment. Death Studies, 36(7), 583-604. 10.1080/07481187.2011.553330
UNHCR. (2017). Global Appeal 2018-2019.
UNHCR. (2017). Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis.
Appendix
Interview questions
Name: Age: Nationality: Born in: Visa status in Egypt: Relationship status: How many children do you have:
Place of residency:
1. Are your parents and/or siblings living in Egypt too?
2. What is the sequence of the countries of asylum that you have been to?
3. Which country do you prefer so far? Why?
4. A) Did you seek any help or assistance from organizations like United Nation, embassies, or any NGO before? B) If yes, what type of assistance did you ask for? C) What was there response?
5. Did you or any of your family members managed to get a job in Egypt? If yes, what type of work? B) How did you search for a job? C) How much did you get paid? D) What was the expected salary before you took job?
6. How much money do you require every month to have comfortable living in Cairo?
7. What educational level(s) have you achieved so far across the years and in which countries?
8. What do you think of the quality of education that you had access to?
9. A) Did you have access to any type of education in Egypt and not through AUC Star. Formal or informal? B) How was the education experience for you? C) To what extent did you benefit from it?
10. What degree or education level do you want to achieve in the future? Is this possible for you to do it in Egypt?
11. What course(s) are you study at Star? B) Do you pay for the course(s) that you are taking? C) Is it possible that you take more courses if you want without paying any extra fee?
12. How did you know about AUC Star program?
13. A) What was your expectation about Star before you enrolled in any course(s)? B) What is your expectation after you are enrolled in Star?
14. Would you recommend other refugees to come and register in Star? Why?
15. Do you know another organize in Egypt that provide education for refugees like Star, regardless if it is small or big organize? B) If yes, did you try to apply in any of these organizes?
Would you like to add or provide anything that I have not covered?
