We are calling on UNESCO, the Global Education Coalition, the European Commission, universities in Europe, Britain, the Irish States, Canada and the United States and all countries and organisations that are concerned with education to put in place a support package and scholarships for African students whose studies have been disrupted by the war in Ukraine so that the students can continue with and finish their studies.
We are asking that African students be offered access to university places on the same terms as their Ukrainian counterparts. Everyone should have a right to education and this should not be a right that is given to some and not others.
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Ukraine was home to 70,000 international students, a quarter of whom are African. Most, if not all, of the students have now fled Ukraine.
Whilst the world has rightly opened its arms to Ukrainian refugees, African students have experienced racism and discrimination. Some of the students have become nomads in European countries and others have either been detained, deported or returned to their countries of origin.
Ukrainian and African students fled the war together, yet Ukrainian students are receiving remarkable support while their African counterparts are facing obstacle after obstacle and have been left to fend for themselves or rely on grassroots organisations for support.
African students who have returned to their countries of origin are now unable to continue with their studies. The Ukrainian universities they were studying in will not give them transcripts and some of the universities the students are applying to claim they do not believe the students were even residents or students in Ukraine.
In addition to this, African students who are applying for scholarships that have been made available for Ukrainian refugees are being told they are ineligible for the scholarships because these are for Ukrainian nationals only.
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. – Malcolm X
