Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Sydney (Fides Service) - Australia’s Catholic schools are organising scholarships and teachers training courses for refugee children and adults from Sudan where thousands are dying of hardship, hunger and disease caused by a long war and a serious humanitarian crisis in the region of Darfur. As refugee children from war-torn Sudan continue to arrive in Australia, the Australian Catholic University ACU National is offering teacher training to adult Sudanese refugees to facilitate the children’s transition to Australian schools and life, as well as enhance the adults’ employment prospects. The Independent Education Union and the Sydney Archdiocese Primary Principals Association were among the first Australian education organisations to contribute to scholarships and study resources for Sudanese students.
While there were few Sudanese refugee children in Australian schools in 2002, last year there were 60 and this year there are about 130. Many of the Sudanese adults training already have a teaching degree from The Sudan. Some will work as teachers’ aides while studying part-time. Their understanding of the Sudanese language and culture and of the trauma many of the children have suffered, remain vitally important as numbers of children refugees continue to rise. (source ACU) (PA) (Agenzia Fides 16/12/2004 righe 21 parole 232)
