Abstract

A large migration wave from Asia to Europe (since 2014) has also affected Serbia. The government and NGOs have been involved in humanitarian assistance, including the enrollment of refugee children in public schools, where they are prepared for education in the (Western) destination countries. In order to understand the educational perspectives of these children, it is important to consider their past experiences, as well as their future expectations. We used the questionnaire with open-ended questions referring to the perception of education. A total of 250 children (54.4% male), aged 10 to 14 (M = 12; SD = 1.38) from Afghanistan who were residing in Belgrade in 2019 participated. The interpreters for Dari and Pashto interviewed them. Two independent coders categorized the obtained responses; the agreement between them was 92.24%. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and χ2 test. When asked to name up to three general associations that refer to school, 45.6% (114) of respondents mentioned “I haven't attended school“ as the only association. 52.8% (132) mentioned school subjects and obligations, 26.4% (66) mentioned socializing with peers, and 26.4% (66) mentioned material items from school. Only 39.2% (98) respondents went to school in Afghanistan (more boys than girls (χ2 (249) = 9.24; p = .002). 54.7% of them stated that they were well integrated, 15.8% had personal and general problems fitting in, and 15.8% had problems due to belonging to a certain group (e.g., ethnic). Only 11.1% of them stated that their perspective in their native country could have been good. 60% (150) of respondents believe that they can achieve their career ambitions with the help of school, and among them, as many as 94.68% (142) want to continue their education in the countries of Western Europe. When it comes to expectations from the destination country, the majority (48.2%) have some kind of general positive expectation, 20.6% expect difficulties, and 12.8% expect only the continuation of education. As for obstacles, 50.7% named language learning, 30.3% - getting used to a new way of life, and 28.2% - prejudices among the residents of the destination country. The results show that a large number of children (especially girls) from Afghanistan had their right to education violated in the country of origin, and the majority of the refugee children do not have clear expectations about education in the destination country, but they are aware of the potential obstacles.