Feature: Refugee children start lessons at Greek schools amid mixed reactions

The first 1,500 refugee children started lessons in six camps and 20 public schools across Greece on Monday, amid mixed reactions by locals.

In most cases, the children were welcomed with warm smiles, big hugs and pastries by their Greek classmates, teachers and parents' associations, according to an Education Ministry press statement.

However, there were also reported incidents of Greek parents who padlocked entrance gates to keep the refugee children away citing health reasons and lack of information by authorities, according to the Greek national news agency AMNA.

Under the pilot refugee schooling program launched on Monday, refugee children will initially attend afternoon classes and will be taught separately from Greek students the Greek language, math, arts, sports and other foreign languages, while they integrate.

According to authorities, about 20,000 children out of the more than 60,000 refugees and migrants currently stranded in Greece after the closure of borders last year, are eligible for the program.

By the end of October, more refugee students are expected to be enrolled in the school system once their vaccination is completed.

With the support of the Greek government and society, as well as international organizations, the overwhelming majority of refugee students returned to school in a positive climate.

At the 81st elementary school of Kato Petralona in Athens, for example, 30 children refugees from the camp of Eleonas, attended classes.

They were transported from the reception center by buses commissioned from the Greek chapter of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has commissioned 12 buses nationwide and provided refugee children with a school kit.

The children will be taught by teachers paid by the Greek state, as well as volunteers, school officials told Xinhua. According to Education Ministry officials, another part of the cost for the program will be covered with European Union funding.

"We welcome the refugees' children to our schools. We embrace them. Education is a fundamental human right. We cannot accept any discrimination. Society must isolate xenophobic calls and show its solidarity with actions," a statement issued by the Union of Parents and Guardians Associations of schools of the Athens Municipality read.

The Education Ministry also downplayed as "isolated exceptions" incidents of parents who opposed the introduction of refugees in school, stressing that all kids who attended classes on Monday had been inoculated and that health concerns were unjustified.

About 30 parents waving Greek national flags tried to block the entrance of 41 refugee students to a primary school at the suburbs of Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

Another group protested outside a high school in central Athens which opened its gates to about 30 refugee children.

On Sunday another group of parents padlocked the entrance of a primary school on Lesvos island, while similar protests were reported ahead of the launch of the program in two other schools in the mainland.

A press release by the Greek branch of UNICEF warned that without education, a generation of children living in countries affected by conflict, natural disasters and extreme poverty will grow up without the necessary skills to contribute to their countries and their economies, making their plight even worse.

On average, according to humanitarian groups, children refugees stranded in Greece have been out of school for one-and-a half years or missed out entirely on education. Enditem