何千人もの10代の庇護希望者が既存の教育制度の枠組みから疎外されています。
Thousands of teenage asylum seekers are thought to be spending up to a year out of education in a “no man’s land” because schools are reluctant to accept them if they arrive after September, a report warns.
Teenage asylum seekers are seen as too old to be easily integrated into mainstream schooling and too young for further education, leaving many stuck in a limbo that leaves them vulnerable to isolation, mental health deterioration and exploitation, according to research conducted by the charity Refugee Education UK (REUK) and funded by the Bell Foundation, an education charity.
While all teens are affected, those who struggle most are aged 15 to 17 and looking to enter year 11, when their peers are preparing for GCSEs, the study showed.
One charity worker told the researchers that “[young] people – particularly unaccompanied young people – are particularly vulnerable to victimisation, trafficking and exploitation” as a result.
Catherine Gladwell, REUK’s chief executive, said that education can have a “transformative impact” and offers “the key to integration, wellbeing, and a meaningful future, and ultimately, enabling them to make a positive economic and social contribution to the UK”.
But she added: “For many young refugees, this right remains far from the reality.”
She noted that in 2023, 7,290 unaccompanied refugee and asylum-seeking children were supported by local authorities, most of whom were aged 14 to 17, meaning thousands of children have likely been trapped in an educational limbo.
一部抜粋
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/23/teen-asylum-seekers-school-year-no-mans-land-report
今回取り上げる表現は in limbo です。物事が不安定な、中途半端な状態になっていることを意味するフレーズです。
Cambridge dictionary では “in a situation where you do not know what will happen or when something will happen” と定義されています。
LDOCE では “to be in an uncertain situation in which it is not clear what will happen next” と定義されています。語源に関しては limbo 1. (1300-1400) Medieval Latin Latinlimbus “border” 2. (1900-2000) LIMBER2 と記載されています。
“limbo” という単語自体には「忘れ去られた状態」という意味があります。他にも宗教的な意味として、カトリック教会の教義において洗礼を受けなかったものが辿り着く、天国と地獄の間に存在する「辺獄」を意味する単語でもあります。このことからも “in limbo” がどっちつかずの状態であるということがわかります。(hick)
https://a30.hatenablog.com/entry/20170104/1483527766
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20160625/1466865432
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20131117/1384680732