From Refugees to Citizens? Rethinking Refugee Education Dilemmas

Building on research conducted in schools hosting Syrian refugees in Lebanon and those hosting Somali refugees in Kenya, this policy brief discusses two dilemmas that are inherent to refugee education in many contexts. The first dilemma pertains to using a nation-state-centric curriculum, aimed at building future citizens, to teach refugees, who are, in the majority of host nations, denied citizenship opportunities. The second dilemma is to reconcile between having de jure inclusion in national education systems and the de facto reality of exclusion that refugees experience outside schools. This brief discusses the implications of these dilemmas for the lives and futures of refugee students.