Charities to block plans to segregate refugee children

Seven leading charities have joined forces to oppose government plans to force asylum-seekers' children to be taught separately from other pupils.

The group, which includes the NSPCC and Barnardo's, said proposals put forward by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, were a "dangerous and unprecedented" attack on a child's right to a school education and would increase intolerance and prejudice. They are backing a parliamentary bid to stop the policy ­ which proposes that the children of asylum-seekers should be taught in special centres ­ when it is debated in the Lords on Wednesday.

Peers led by the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Right Rev Dr Kenneth Stevenson, have tabled an amendment to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill that would guarantee asylum-seekers' children the same right to education as any other child.

The seven charities ­ which also include Save the Children, Unicef, National Children's Homes, the Children's Society and the National Children's Bureau ­ are endorsing the amendment and warning that the Government's plan would break the United Nations convention on children's rights. Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, said: "This vulnerable group are children first and refugees second. Like every other child in this country, they must have the right to a decent education.

"The Children's Society cannot sit back and watch the Government introduce a law which will increase intolerance and prejudice and punish innocent children. We cannot allow child refugees to become the victims of a two-tier education system."

Pam Hibbert, principal policy officer with Barnardo's, said there was evidence that pupils benefited when asylum-seekers' children were placed in mainstream schools. "It is a positive experience for the asylum-seekers' children, who learn English more quickly, and for the other children, who learn about other cultures," she said.

Ms Hibbert said there was no guarantee that children educated in refugee accommodation centres would be taught the whole national curriculum, as was their right.

A Home Office spokeswoman said teaching children in asylum-seekers' centres did not breach their human rights because they would not receive inferior education and would be able to integrate into schools later. "They will receive an education which will mirror that being delivered in mainstream schools," she said.

The Refugee Council is launching a separate attempt to defeat proposals in the Bill which will see some asylum-seekers deported within days of their claim being rejected and forced to mount an appeal from abroad. The council's chief executive, Nick Hardwick, said: "The worst-case scenario is that someone will end up being killed on return to their home country because their case was wrongly assessed by the Home Office."

Mr Blunkett announced new proposals to reform the asylum system yesterday. They include rejecting immigrants who fail to make asylum claims at their port of entry but working with the United Nations to accept others directly from refugee camps abroad.