Grant for education of children who fled the Taliban

CHILDREN WHO fled Afghanistan last year who are resettling in North Yorkshire will benefit from a grant worth nearly £250,000 to help with their education.

The Government has allocated £225,083 to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) to help with resettlement costs including English lessons and school uniforms.

Some 163 children who fled the now Taliban-controlled country in airlift rescues last year are living in two hotels in Selby and Scarborough according to latest council figures.

The Afghan Resettlement (Education) Grant can be spent on funding a school or nursery place, hiring extra staff in schools with large numbers of refugee children, providing transport, meals and uniforms, and support for children with additional needs.

Proposals to spend £120,000 on school funding places and assessment costs, £13.300 on uniform, £36,000 on transport and £32,000 on extra teaching and support staff are to be voted on in a meeting of the Children and Young People’s service executive directors next week.

But council bosses have acknowledged there could be a discrepancy in funding between those living at the bridging hotels and those who have been resettled in houses.

The report reads: “The funding is only for children residing in the bridging hotels, this could cause a disparity between refugee children who are residing in the hotels compared to the ones who are permanently residing within the region. This may be confusing if a child moves from a hotel into housing within the area and stays at the same school as the funding would cease.”

Refugees began arriving as part of Operation Warm Welcome last August.