EU urges member states to address education inequality faced by immigrants

The European Union (EU) on Monday called on member states to make their education systems more "relevant and inclusive" in order to address inequality faced mainly by students with immigration backgrounds.


The European Commission, or the EU executive arm, on Monday published the Education and Training Monitor report, an annual evaluation of education and training systems across Europe.

By analyzing the latest data and documents, the report found that all EU member states faced a dual task of ensuring adequate financial investment and offering high-quality education to young people from all backgrounds, including refugees and migrants.

Few countries made satisfactory progress in pushing for education equality in 2016, according to the 92-page report.

The report says that young people with immigration backgrounds are more likely to become early leavers from education and training, which means they would drop out of secondary education without attaining a diploma.

In 2015, for example, 19 percent of foreign-born students left school early, while only 10.1 percent of native-born students did the same.

The problem is more severe in countries that have the history of taking in large numbers of immigrants, such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

In Belgium, 19.4 percent of foreign-born students dropped out of secondary education in 2015, while only 9 percent of indigenous students did so.
 [Xinhua/globaltimes.cn]

9/11/16