Some 700 children of migrants will begin the school year with local children on September 1st in Serbia. The first problem for them will be the language, as underscored by the Education and Technological Development Minister Mladen Sarcevic.
''At the moment we do not have sufficient funds to deal with the problem, nor do we know with any certainty what the educational level of the children is,'' Sarcevic said, noting that the largest number of migrant students are in Belgrade and in the area of Sid, along the border with Croatia. According to the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees, there are about 4,500 migrants in Serbia, about a hundred of whom intend to stay in the country.
Hundreds return to their home countries, 30 work permits granted
The commissariat added that a few hundred migrants had decided to return to their home countries, most of whom were Afghans, and that another roughly 200 had returned to Greece. The Belgrade authorities also noted that about 30 migrants had in recent months been granted work permits in Serbia, mostly as translators of Middle Eastern languages or as bakers. Local media report that numerous Afghans and Pakistanis housed in the Serbia reception center had begun training and playing cricket, which is very popular in their home countries.
The initiative was by the Serbian Cricket Federation (KFS), which made the trainers and facilities available to them. (The picture shows young migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria take lessons in a classroom of the reception center for migrants in Presevo, Serbia. EPA PHOTO)