Children of Asylum Seekers

Throughout the world the Jesuits are known as educators but a new partnership between JRS Ireland and Gonzaga College SJ is continuing that tradition in a non-traditional environment. 

Every Thursday during the school year, students from fifth year will join JRS staff in Hatch Hall accommodation centre to run a Homework Club for the children living there.

Many children of asylum seekers perform well in Irish schools but often face considerable obstacles.

If English is not the first language of an asylum seeker or their family, extra support will initially be needed to ensure the children catch up and keep up with their classmates. In addition, since an entire family will often share a single room in Direct Provision, there is little space for children to do their homework and usually no desk to do it on. In response to these challenges, JRS runs a Homework Club in two Direct Provision centres in Dublin to assist and support the primary school children and their parents who live there. 

Marta Hernandez, JRS Project Officer and coordinator of the Hatch Hall Homework Club explained:

“The children love having the Gonzaga boys to help them with their homework or play games and at the same time, the boys themselves are welcomed with open arms each week and gain a unique understanding of what life is like in Direct Provision”.

By their very nature, children are uniquely vulnerable to the lifelong consequences of growing up in the institutionalised environment of Direct Provision and will remain a JRS Ireland priority throughout 2014.  Marta added:

“JRS has a great experience working with the Jesuit schools in Ireland and we hope that 2014 will give rise to new and innovative ways of working together in pursuit of our missions”.