Abstract
While refugee and migrant children in some Caribbean countries (for example Guyana and the Dominican Republic) have access to basic schooling, this is not the case in Trinidad and Tobago despite its status as a signatory to the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child (as well as the later ratification in 1991). In July/August 2023, the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) and the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in collaboration with UNICEF, worked on a project to test over 300 migrant kids to determine their level of readiness for entering primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Despite this assessment and its results, migrant children continue to exist in a restrictive environment in Trinidad and Tobago; barred from accessing government schools. Following the testing initiative and coming out of a need signalled therein, the CLL and the DMLL organised a community-based project to engage migrant kids in the St Augustine area in English, Reading Comprehension (in English) and Mathematics thus promoting their social development while at the same time enhancing university/community collaboration. This paper analyses the work conducted by the 40 volunteer university students in a planned sixteen-week pilot learning project with migrant kids from the St Augustine area; evaluating the project as well as the volunteers both from a community perspective as well as the process. The paper also provides recommendations for improvement as well as continued work in this area.
Presenters
Nicole RobertsDirector, Centre for Language Learning, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Tunapuna-Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Civic, Political, and Community Studies
KEYWORDS
Community Engagement, Migrant Kids, University Students, Volunteerism
