Funding cut hurts refugees

BY CHARLES ANDERSON

The Government is not honouring its commitment to Nelson's refugee population by cutting funding for a basic literacy programme aimed at integrating them into the community, those working with refugees say.

Victory Primary School has provided literacy and numeracy courses to 22 refugees each year for the past nine years. They are mainly young women with children, who attend classes three times a week.

The Tertiary Education Commission has left the school with only $11,000 to run the courses, down from $58,000 in previous years. The programme is likely to be scrapped as a result.

The decision has left principal Mark Brown confused. The commission advised the school to apply for funding for next year's courses from a $2.8 million Adult and Community Education fund, but Mr Brown said $11,000 would not be nearly enough to cater for the people who needed the courses.

"There will be unforeseen consequences from this. If [the courses] are cut away, it's not clear that they will be picked up by other agencies.

"There is a real possibility of the refugees getting disconnected from our community. The people on the courses are the victims caught up in this."

Mr Brown said the Government invited refugees to New Zealand, so the community had to make a commitment to them. "We have to honour that agreement."

Sue Leya, a Chin refugee from Myanmar, said learning English was the first step in helping to become part of the community.

Ms Leya came to New Zealand two years ago and now helps to teach English to new refugees. She said not knowing English made it difficult to find a job.

"We are not lazy people, we don't like to be on benefits, but if we can't learn English, what can we do?"

Ms Leya said she loved her job but if it was not possible to continue with it, she would do whatever she could. "I am not worried about the future. God really loves me – he lets me help other people, which is what makes me happy."

The commission declined to comment on the issue, saying it was still discussing the final details with the school.

Nelson refugee services co-ordinator Gabrielle Humphreys said that if the courses were lost, it would be "devastating".

"It is the only ESOL (English as a second language) provision in the city which particularly caters to women with children, and a lot of our refugee families do have young children."

She said such families were brought to Nelson because it was recognised as a good city for them. Nelson takes 60 refugees a year from Bhutan and Myanmar.

Ms Humphreys said the courses were not just about learning English.

"It is good for [the refugees] to be together and meet each other to help with the support networks. They get to know how to do things in New Zealand."

Nelson Adult ESOL teacher Diane Homer said many of the women on the courses had little previous education, so they were becoming literate as well as learning another language.

"You can't bring them here and not teach them English. That is the key to becoming a part of society."

- © Fairfax NZ News