Russian attack More than 200 Ukrainian children who do not go to school are missing from Helsinki

City|The Russian attack

In Helsinki there are more than 200 children fleeing the war in Ukraine who are not in school or early childhood education.

By Monday, 77 Ukrainian children had started in Helsinki schools. There were 13 children in early childhood education.

The customers of the Helsinki Reception Center are currently about 1,000 Ukrainians, of whom more than 300 are children.

Since the Russian invasion, just over 16,000 Ukrainians have filed an application for international protection in Finland. A total of just over 3,500 applications have been processed by immigration authorities.

The number of Ukrainians in Helsinki and the whole country is likely to be higher, as not everyone registers with the authorities.

Helsinki Deputy Mayor of Education Nasima Razmyar (sd) is concerned about the implementation of the rights of children who have entered the country in a situation where Ukrainian families are not being reached and the actual number of Ukrainians in the city is only estimated.

“If there are currently a thousand Ukrainians registered in Helsinki, then the fact that there are about 80 children in schools sounds like a small number to me,” says Razmyar.

All children aged 6–17 in Finland have the right to attend primary school. Now, this information may not even reach all those who are covered by reception center services, Razmyar says. The situation is complicated by the fact that there are no exact figures for Ukrainians in Helsinki.

“Let’s talk about the fundamental [perusluonteisesta] question than the rights of the child. They may not materialize in such a slightly chaotic situation, ”he says.

Read more: Dozens of children who fled Ukraine in the middle of the war are already studying in Helsinki schools

As a challenge reaching out to children and their parents is that they may not be contacted after they have registered with the authorities. Not to mention that not everyone who enters the country registers with the authorities.

Some of the Ukrainians who enter the country live in reception centers, but most live in private accommodation. The situation is thus different from that of asylum seekers in the past.

“In the past, the children of asylum seekers have been in reception centers. From there, it is easier to operate the data forward. Now most of them live somewhere else, in private accommodation, ”says Razmyar.

Inclusion of children in the school system would make it easier for families to integrate more easily into society.

“Everyone hopes the war will end, the Ukrainians will be able to return to their homeland and we could help rebuild Ukraine together, but in the light of current knowledge, it cannot be assumed that the families who have come here will return soon.”

Razmyar hopes that, in the case of Ukrainians, consideration will be given to obtaining a municipal seat on an accelerated schedule. As a general rule, beneficiaries of temporary protection do not receive a municipality of residence in accordance with the Local Government Act.

Ukrainians are entitled to temporary protection, which allows the Finnish Immigration Service to issue a residence permit for a maximum of one year at a time. Thus, Ukrainians do not have to apply for asylum and do not have to attend asylum interviews.

“Now maybe the problem and the challenges are because people are here with a temporary residence permit, but they are not local residents. If they were local, the authorities would get involved differently, because then they would be in the same position as anyone from Helsinki, ”says Razmyar.