More than 6,800 Ukrainian children enrolled in French schools

More than 6,800 Ukrainian children are now enrolled in French schools, colleges and high schools – mainly in Nice and Versailles –  the Ministry of Education announced Friday.

The latest figures come from the "Ukraine unit" set up in the ministry, which works daily to anticipate the arrival of Ukrainian children in French classrooms.

A total of 6,873 pupils have been enrolled, with that number increasing rapidly.

It's already rising sharply since Monday when there were 5,266 Ukrainian pupils enrolled in France, a figure that had already "multiplied by 20 since 8 March".

The schools with the highest number of Ukrainian pupils are in Nice, Versailles, Grenoble and Lyon.

In the very short term, perhaps as early as next week, there could be 10,000 pupils enrolled, with the Ministry of Education stressing that it still had the capacity to receive more.

Reception plan

Last month Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said crisis cells had been set up in every local education authority as part of the reception plan.

To help integrate the children, the government said it would involve parents by opening free municipal courses to teach them French and the "values of the republic".  

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Despite swift efforts to get Ukrainians into the French school system, many obstacles remain.

Blanquer's plan has yet to be finalised and some schools are only able to act as emergency reception centres, with zero interaction between the school's own teachers and pupils.

So far, the number of refugees fleeing Russia's war in Ukraine has crossed 4.1 million, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said Friday.