B.C.'s watchdog for children and youth is awarding the Burnaby school district for teaching the children of Tamil women held in Burnaby's youth prison.
The award, from Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond's office, is for excellence in innovative service and will be presented to the school district on Oct. 13 in Vancouver.
"I think the award is excellent recognition of the work our teachers and support staff do," said Reno Ciolfi, the district's director of instruction. "We have tremendous respect for (Turpel-Lafond's) office and the work she does ensuring the well-being of children throughout the province."
In September 2010, the school district started English-language classes and a StrongStart playbased program for the children of Tamil women imprisoned awaiting immigration hearings. Tamils are an ethnic group native to India and Sri Lanka.
The 25 women and their 47 children were part of a larger group of nearly 500 asylum seekers that arrived off the B.C. coast Aug. 13, 2010, via the MV Sun Sea.
School districts in B.C. are mandated to provide refugee children with an education, even if they are in the process of having their claims reviewed, as was the case with the Tamil migrants.
Ciolfi highlighted an anecdote from the work in a letter nominating the district.
"In the early days of the program, one of the youth supervisors who happened to be close to retirement age was learning how to count in the Tamil language with the help of a nine-year-old girl. He was clearly strug-gling to count to six when she quickly and effortlessly counted from one to 100 in English," he wrote. "Her mastery in comparison to that of the youth supervisor brought everyone - mothers, children, custody centre staff - to laughter. It was a bonding moment."
As immigration officials cleared the women, they left the prison, taking their children with them. Once the program finished, four remaining kids were enrolled at Burnaby's Glenwood Elementary, and custody centre staff drove the kids to school.
The Burnaby Youth Custody Services Centre is also receiving an award for its part in the work.
