Round table on the problems of foreign-speaking children

On November 1, 2013 regional public association “Children of Saint Petersburg” and ADC “Memorial” held a round table discussion devoted to the problems of foreign-speaking children. The problem of access to education, integration into school collectives, social and psychological adaptation of children from migrant families were discussed in reports made by a teacher from the correctional school №3 of Petrograd district, a representative of a children/teen club from Nevsky district, director of school №70 from Samara. A volunteer teacher working for “Children of Saint Petersburg” reported about their project for teaching Russian to foreign-speaking children. Representatives of ADC “Memorial” spoke about their experience of a charitable human rights project “Supporting socio-cultural integration of children from migrant families in Saint Petersburg” and a summer integration camp for foreign-speaking children. Also discussed at the round table were the problems of observing the rights of children. In particular, the problem of access to education for children from migrant families was discussed by ombudsmen for Saint Petersburg and Chelyabinsk region. The lawyer of ADC “Memorial” reported about educational work in schools and the compatibility of tolerance and military and patriotic education in Russian schools.