Children arrived before 1984 at the age of 16 years or less and who have attended school regularly after their arrival have the right to their own residency card of the same type and validity as their parents.

More

Children below the age of 18 years do not have to have a residency document. A special document for crossing France’s borders is issues to such children in order for them to return to France. Such document is issues to children of at least one parent who has acquired status of refugee, stateless person or asylum, or if at least one of the parents has French or EU nationality. After the 18^th birthday minors must ask for a valid residency document.

Children born in France from parents with a valid residency permit have the right to a “Republican identity card”, which enables them to circulate freely within the Schengen space and return to France without a visa. The card must be returned to the authorities if the minor acquires full French citizenship before the age of 18. It is valid for 5 year sand can be renewed until the age of 18.

On the basis of Article 1 of the 1958 Constitution equality before the law also includes the sphere of education, with exclusion of all discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion.

The right to education is stated for French and foreign children alike. Educational establishments must enroll French and foreign children or be charged, under civil and criminal law, of discrimination. The residence permits of the parents or guardians of a minor shall not be requested when the child is enrolled in a school. The same rules for admission to pre-school establishments apply both to French and foreign children (Circulars of the Ministry of National Education nr 84-246 of 1984 and nr 86-120 of 1986). In 1991 the Grenoble Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of a mayor who had refused to enroll children of North African immigrants in the town’s schools on the basis of their nationality.

The disproportionate representation of foreign children or children of immigrant background in certain schools is reported to be an increasing phenomenon in France. Such representation often goes beyond the level corresponding to the proportion of foreigners or people of foreign origin in certain school districts.

This phenomenon is due to a number of factors, including discrimination, but also to the way children of foreign origin are placed in special classes which on one hand, help them cover the gap, on the other, excludes them from mainstream schooling. For instance, at primary and secondary school levels children of migrants are placed in mainstream classrooms if their French is sufficient or in special classes for non francophones for periods ranging from a few months to one year. Also it is due to the housing patterns especially in urban areas, whereby migrant families occupy the most disadvantaged and peripheral areas, where youth integration is made more difficult due to isolation and social stigma from a very early age.

Specific measures have been taken to help children of migrants to cover the gap in educational opportunities with mixed results. For instance, in order to rpepare teachers there exist the Centres de Formation et d’information sur la scolarisation des enfants des migrants. Also, Education priority Zones (Zones d’Enseignement Prioritaire) have been created in areas of high immigrant population or of second generation of migrants.

In certain primary schools children of migrants receive classes also in their maternal languages, at times by teachers from their countries of origin in case bilateral agreements exist between the French and the relevant government.

Law of 31/12/1987 prohibits offering, selling or giving to minors Publications of any kind, especially if aimed at young people which may present a danger to them because of the space devote to discrimination or racial hatred (or violence generally.)

Analysis provided by: Antonella C. Attardo PhD (History of Law), Italy.

Hide