From Against Borders for Children. Please support their crowdfunder to pay for a legal challenge to government policy. LINK
This is particularly relevant in Brent where we have children in our schools of many different nationalities and where substantial numbers are undocumented.
Our aim is to reverse the Department of Education’s (DfE) policy of collecting country of birth and nationality information on 8 million children in England to help bring border controls into classrooms which was introduced in September 2016.
We've been campaigning since last year to get this policy scrapped. Now, with the support of Liberty, we’re hoping to win this in court – but we need your support to cover legal costs.
Collection of nationality and country of birth data is a toxic policy that has led to highly divisive and discriminatory collection practices such as asking only children assumed to be migrants to bring in passports and birth certificates.
The information is not being collected for educational purposes, but as part of a compromise with the Home Office on harsh measures that would have seen the children of undocumented migrants ‘deprioritised’ for school places. Nationality and country of birth information was going to be handed over to the Home Office as part of a broader data-sharing scheme to track down undocumented children and families through school records. Only public outcry has prevented this, and it could still be shared in the future.
Some parents now fear sending their children to school could lead to deportation.
We believe schools should be safe for ALL children. Help us to fight this racist policy, and keep border controls out of schools!
