DISCRIMINATORY MIGRATION POLICY? AN ACCESS TO EDUCATION SYSTEM FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN IN POLAND

The article aims at analyzing Polish migration policy and in particular, an access to education system for children migrants in refugee centers and detention centers. In recent years, much has been written about Polish migration policy (e.g., Kicinger 2009; Górny, Grabowska-Lusińska, Lesińska, Okólski 2011; Kicinger Koryś 2011, Okólski 2012) as well as the education of migrant children in Poland. While the former approach has been developed in academia and framed in public policy analysis, the latter has been developed by NGOs, the Ministry of the Interior and Ombudsman Office, and from results of monitoring of refugee centers and detention centers. The two fields rarely meet - therefore, this article addresses this gap by embedding the analysis of educational access for migrant children in a broader context of migration policy, and argues that the existing policy actually results in direct and indirect discrimination of migrant children. Access to education is either strictly limited (in case of detention centers) or hindered (children in refugee centers). Lack of systematic approach to education for children migrants reflects in lack of training for teachers to teach Polish as a foreign language, lack of multicultural training, even if there are some specific tools such as multicultural assistants, they are rarely used because the need is not recognized by local administration. We recognize positive impact of different social actors to introduce changes in the system. The actors are nongovernmental organization assisting migrants and researchers and academics analyzing Polish migration policy. Nevertheless, we argue that the problems faced by migrant children within Polish education system can only be solved by introducing systematic approach to Polish migration policy