Moreover, according to the study of the Foster Educators, schools’ inability to create an efficient and attractive integration environment for refugee and migrant children, the administrative weaknesses of the accommodation structures, the deficits in personnel, material resources and educational know-how of both schools and accommodation structures and mobility are the main reasons for dropout. 1092 In particular, regarding mobility of children and their families from one accommodation place to another (i.e. due to administrative procedures regarding their asylum or due to camps’ closure), a dramatic increase (almost doubled) was observed compared to last year, mainly in the mobility of unaccompanied children.1093 Three years of schooling is one of the perquisites of a special 10-year residence permit given to ex-UAMs –who have reached adulthood. According to the new provision of Article 161 para 1c΄ of L 5038/1.4.2023 (Migration Code):1094 “Third country nationals residing in the country are granted a ten-year residence permit, which grants the right to full access to the labor market, provided that: […] c) are adult third country nationals or stateless persons who entered Greece as unaccompanied minors and have successfully completed at least three (3) classes of secondary education in a Greek school in Greece before reaching the age of twenty-three”. Only evidence of successful completion -and therefore promotion- to the next class are accepted, and not simple attestations of attendance (Circular no 17314 of 12 January 2024). Although in law, this has been a long-expected regulation addressing a serious protection gap for asylum seeking youngsters,1095 three years of schooling before the age of twenty-three is problematic. In particular, as mentioned above, inadequate staffing, reception classes that start months after the beginning of the school year, lack of tailored vocational education options are some of the factors that hinder the harmonious integration of UAMs in school and lead to their early dropout. As long as a transitory residence permit, covering the legality of stay for children turning 18 is not institutionalised, the new provision of the Migration Code (Article 161 para 1c΄ of L 5038/1.4.2023) for the grant of a 10-year residence permit will not be applicable and will remain void. GCR has also observed – mainly through its intercultural centre PYXIDA – that attendance seemed to have decreased during the school year 2022-2023, mainly due to the closure of ESTIA accommodation program, which led to the removal of families and their children from the center of Athens and their confinement in camps away from the city. As a result, children had to start from zero in remote areas under harsh living conditions and with very limited possibilities of accessing school. In their letter to the authorities in May 2023, 32 Refugee Education Coordinators condemned the very poor living conditions of asylum applicants in the accommodation structures in Greece and in the new –prison-like- Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCACs), which are an obstacle to children’s access to public education due to the distance of the structures from schools, thus the drastic limitation of the communication of the children with their peers outside the structure, the impossibility for them to participate in social activities and the suffocating situation for the development and inclusion of children. 1096 Regarding adequate staffing and timely scheduling of reception classes, it seems that the same problems remain, meaning the significant delays and insufficient number of teachers recruited in staffing reception and DYEP classes. In particular, according to the above-mentioned study of Foster Educators, the majority of the supportive reception classes -mainly for Greek language- started in November 2022, with 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 Ibid. pp. 38-39. Foster Educators, School attendance of unaccompanied refugee minors during the 2022-23 school year, December 2023, available in Greek at: https://tinyurl.com/2k5xepn2, pp. 26, 51-52. L 5038/2023 enters into force the 31 March 2024, except for –among others- paragraph 1c of Article 161, which enters into force on 1st April 2023 (according to Article 179 para 2c). For the application of said provision of Article 1c of the Migration Code and the required documents relative is Article 1 para Z4 of JMD 30825/2014, as amended by JMD 378422/16.8.2023. In reality, the application of the provision for the 10-year residence permit was not functional at least until the beginning of 2024 due to different obstacles (administrative deficiencies of the online system of MoMA, issuance of explanatory circulars). It remains to be seen how this new provision will be applied in practice. See joint Press Release of 14 NGOs, members of Child Rights Advocacy Network (CRAN), December 2022, available in Greek here. Alfavita, Εκπαίδευση προσφυγόπουλων: SOS από Συντονιστές εκπαίδευσης για κλειστές δομές – ‘ανοικτές φυλακές’, 15 May 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/4aR2vgh. 224