Migrant children are repeating school to stay in New Zealand

Friday, 11 June 2021

Verdon College year 13 pupil Cristela Ajon wants to pursue a career in nursing or accounting but is not sure how she will pay the tuition fees.

In order to stay in New Zealand, the only option for some migrant teenagers is to repeat Year 13.

Filipino migrant couple Vivian and Christopher Ajon have been in Aotearoa for almost a decade and are based in Southland.

Vivian arrived in April 2013 and her children Crisian and Cristela with her husband followed in 2014.

Her children came on dependent child student visas.

The visa allows parents to work or study in New Zealand, while their children study at primary or secondary schools and are considered domestic students.

The visa is applicable for children of migrants till age 19. Once the child has completed secondary school, they must switch to an international student visa, if they can pay the fees for tertiary education.

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The Ajon family are struggling to all stay together in New Zealand. From left, Vivian, Christopher, Crisian and Cristela.

The other option is to find an employer willing to sponsor them to stay in the country.

When Crisian finished year 13 in 2019, he re-enrolled in Verdon College the next year because his parents could not afford international student fees.

Ministry of Education data shows as of March 1, 2021, 81 students from the previous year are currently repeating year 13 in Southland.

This is 9.6 per cent of students who were present as of March 1, 2020. This does not count students who had their first year 13 year in Southland and moved to another part of the country in the repeating year (e.g. a Southland student moving to Auckland to repeat year 13).

Crisian was not keen to go back and repeat school when he had already passed, his mother said.

“My son wants to pursue his course. That’s why … as a parent it’s a duty and responsibility for … to bring them to the school to have the good education,” Vivian said.

The couple wanted to encourage their son in his interest to keep studying, so they borrowed money from friends and the Southern Institute of Technology gave Crisian a 20 per cent discount on his culinary studies.

Filipino migrant couple Christopher and Vivian Ajon are based in Southland and are worried their kids may have to move back to the Philippines to get a tertiary education.

It was enough to pay for a year and Crisian only had to be back in Verdon college for about three months, she said.

It cost more than $10,000 in international fees to pay for one year in SIT culinary studies.

In November, the Ajon family will have to brainstorm on what to do next, as Crisian’s one year of paid education will be up and Cristela will finish year 13.

Crisian and Cristela will either have to figure out a pay to pay for tuition, or look for a job where the employer is willing to sponsor them to stay.

Cristela, 17, wants to study nursing at Otago University in Dunedin but is willing to study accounting at SIT, just as long as she can start her tertiary education.

“It’s quite irritating. Academic wise I could actually get in, it’s just the financial aspect. I couldn’t really get scholarships because I’m not [a] resident yet,” she said.

Year 13 is stressful enough, and she would rather look for work than repeat the school year, Cristela said.

The last time she visited the Philippines was five years ago, and she does not want to move back there just to be able to study, she said.

“I already adapted to [the] lifestyle here,” Cristela said.

The Ajons have tried to apply for residency unsuccessfully in the past.

“I have been working here for seven years, but with the sudden change of the immigration policy we won’t be able to apply for the residency but still we stay and work in New Zealand,” Vivian said.

Cristela is hoping her parents application will be a success in the future, so that she will only have to figure out a way to pay for one or two years of tertiary education.

The couple were veterinarians in the Philippines and have been doing different managerial roles in farms since they arrived to New Zealand.

Southland Filipino Community Centre and Society coordinator Dorothea Hawkins said many migrant Filipino families were struggling get their children tertiary educations in Southland.

“Some of them are repeating the year 13, just to stay. And some are … the parents sending home to the Philippines to study, and it’s very sad for them because they are separated you see. The parents are here and the daughter or son in Philippines,” Hawkins said.