Refugee children face language and uncertainty at Swiss schools

Refugee children in Switzerland have the same right to education as all minors, but they face language barriers, different school cultures and uncertainty over their residence status, SRF reports.

An estimated 30,000 refugee children started school in Switzerland in 2022 and 2023, according to the Zurich University of Teacher Education. Many had fled Ukraine.

There are no nationwide figures for refugee children in Swiss schools, the State Secretariat for Migration said in response to an inquiry by SRF, referring the broadcaster to the cantons. In the 2021-22 school year, 416 children with a refugee background entered primary school in Basel-Stadt and 1,780 did so in Bern. In 2025-26, the figures were 99 in Basel-Stadt and 520 in Bern.

“There is a right to education,” said Pascale Herzig, a lecturer at the Zurich University of Teacher Education who published a 2023 study on refugee children in Swiss schools.

Refugee families first go to a federal asylum centre, where minors must already receive lessons. The right to education is a fundamental human right, and Switzerland requires minors to attend 11 years of compulsory schooling.

Children in federal asylum centres mainly receive language lessons. Herzig said teaching there was challenging because the children come from different countries, speak different languages and have varying levels of prior knowledge. If an asylum procedure has not been completed after 140 days, the family is assigned to a cantonal facility. The children are integrated into compulsory schools by that point at the latest.

In compulsory school, refugee children receive the same lessons as other pupils. However, many are still waiting for a decision on their asylum applications and do not know whether they will be deported, Herzig said.

Language is another challenge. Refugee children must learn both German and Swiss German, as well as specialist terminology in subjects such as Nature, Human Being and Society.

Many children are also used to a different school culture in their countries of origin. Children from Ukraine told Herzig that pupils there did not ask teachers questions and that group work was not part of lessons.

Children from Ukraine are a special case because Switzerland activated protection status S for them for the first time. They did not have to go through the regular asylum procedure. Many Ukrainian families were initially housed with relatives or acquaintances, and their children were enrolled directly in the local compulsory school.

Starting compulsory school as quickly as possible is a major advantage, Herzig said. It allows children to encounter the local language and culture sooner, establish a normal daily routine and leave the confined setting of an asylum centre. These factors support faster integration and greater independence.