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Venezuelan Migrants in Brazil: Children and Family Experiences with Education and Social Services

An unprecedented number of Venezuelans have left behind the worsening economic and social crisis at home to look for better future prospects. Brazil is hosting about 261,000 Venezuelans as migrants, asylum seekers, or refugees, which, at 18 percent, constitutes the largest share of Brazil’s 1.3 million refugees and migrants population (World Bank, 2020). Many shelters in Brazilian cities are overcrowded, meaning children and families often end up living on the streets and unable to access government services including education. This presentation has two goals: the first is to present background data on both the legal conditions that impact Venezuelan immigrants in Brazil and the education barriers that exist for immigrant and refugee children in Brazilian public schools. The second goal is to present preliminary qualitative data on how public schools (teachers, administrators) are responding to the influx of Venezuelan children in elementary schools.

Speaker: Gabrielle Oliveira, Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and of Brazil Studies, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Moderator: Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Presented in collaboration with the Immigration Initiative at Harvard and the Growth Lab at Harvard´s Center for International Development.

Mar 2, 2023 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)