Education is the ticket to achieving the American Dream for Bhutanese refugees in Akron

Story By Tom Crain

“In the beginning,  I was really freaked out,” confesses ninth grader Sabbitri about her first couple months transferring mid-year from a Nepali refugee camp school to Akron’s North High School.  “I couldn’t get the combination on my locker to work. The other high school girls had beautiful makeup and clothes and wild hairstyles in all different colors. They were always laughing and texting each other. They were so much happier and prettier than I was.”

The transition from Nepal’s refugee camp schools to America’s public schools is a challenge for most Bhutanese students like Sabbitri.  The Nepali government places a strong emphasis on its monastic-style of teaching where its Bhutanese refugees go to school, providing nine years of free education for them. Lessons are taught in British English and Nepali.

Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee

The third key transition point Summit Education Initiative (SEI) focuses on is third grade. By third grade, SEI wants kids reading on grade level.

In the past few years, this has coincided with Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee. In Spring of 2012, the Ohio Legislature passed an education policy bill which included the guarantee. The bill requires 3rd graders to meet a minimum score on the state reading test to move on to the 4th grade reading instruction.