The social integration of unaccompanied minors and the role of the Greek educational policy
A large part of the refugees’ population currently staying in Greece consists of children; among them a significant percentage includes unaccompanied minors. This essay investigates the presence of unaccompanied minors in Greek classrooms, exploring whether and how their right to education is protected and if there are sufficient social integration conditions so as for them to be able later, if they wish, to get easier integrated in Greek society. The research focuses on unaccompanied minors staying in shelters and it consists of two parts. The quantitative part of this research includes questionnaires completed by social workers working at shelters. The qualitative part of this research consists of 5 semi-structural interviews with 3 unaccompanied minors’ teachers and 2 social workers working at shelters. According to the research’s data, a small percentage of unaccompanied minors get registered at schools, all parties involved take educational initiatives due to the absence of a specific policy, the Greek language ignorance results in the marginalization of those children in the class, but, nevertheless, unaccompanied children develop valuable networks of social contacts and relationships.