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Refugee advocacy group ChilOut has raised concerns about the treatment of primary age school children in detention on Christmas Island, who it claims will no longer be let out each day to attend the island's school under an unconfirmed policy shift at the facility. The group claims the health and wellbeing of children seeking asylum is under threat, as Matt O'Neil writes.

Fresh concerns have been raised for almost 240 primary age school children on Christmas Island.

ChilOut, an organisation that promotes child welfare in Australian detention centres, said children will no longer be allowed to leave the centre to attend primary school on the island under a shift in policy at the facility, and that the federal government will instead bring in contractors with ‘limited teaching qualifications’ to provide lessons. The office of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison did not return a request for comment on the issue.

School is one of those few places where the children can go... they can have some sense of normal childhood interacting with teachers, with students, and perhaps for a few hours in the day, forget the rest of their difficult circumstances

Sophie Peer, campaign director for ChilOut, said that preventing children on Christmas Island from attending the island’s only school would harm their health and wellbeing.

‘We know that the detention environment harms children and harms families, and we’ve seen throughout Australia that if you can provide some sense of normality, some routine [in a] school environment... it’s a benefit not just to their education, but to their overall health and wellbeing,’ she said.

Ms Peer said she was concerned about the qualifications of the teachers rumoured to be brought in as contractors, but added her organisation was more worried that the children at the centre would no longer be allowed to leave the detention facility.

The unconfirmed new policy arrangement would engender an ‘us and them’ mentality in the community, and would limit interaction, she said.

‘School is one of those few places where the children can go... they can have some sense of normal childhood interacting with teachers, with students, and perhaps for a few hours in the day, forget the rest of their difficult circumstances,’ she said.

The rumoured policy shift would also breach Australia's commitment to the UN Convention on Rights of the Child, Ms Peer claimed.

‘The convention is very clear that signatories must provide education,’ she said.

‘It [the convention] even goes to say that primary school education levels should be compulsory and states should progress for it to be equal for all children... regardless of immigration status.’

There are 400 children in total on Christmas Island, and more than 1100 detained throughout Australia’s detention network.

ChilOut has questioned Australia's commitment to the welfare of these children across a range of areas including health, education and recreation.

‘Their needs cannot be met in that environment,’ Ms Peers said.

She added that children who arrived before the election, but after Kevin Rudd’s proposed PNG Solution on July 19, were in ‘complete limbo', and expressed concern for the many unaccompanied children on Christmas Island.