Thousands of new migrant students will pose a language barrier “challenge” for New York City public schools when classes start this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.

While most of the 60,000 migrants being sheltered by the city speak Spanish, the governor noted that there are many who speak another first language and will have to have language services that cater to their needs.

“This is a real challenge and an unexpected challenge,” Hochul said, as the DOE shored up language and social services for almost 20,000 asylum seeking students.

“I think that language is going to be a challenge, particularly in the early days. We can’t always find someone with the exact language that a student was raised with.”

Ahead of the school year, the Department of Education said it had 3,400 English as a New Language licensed teachers on hand, as well as more than 1,700 teachers who are fluent in Spanish.

Hochul said that the schools will need language instructors ready to communicate in tongues from around the globe.

“We have individuals coming from Mauritania, for example,” she continued, mentioning an Arabic-speaking African nation, where migrants had recently been coming to the US by the thousands.

“We have real challenges. They’re coming from West Africa — and south and Central America.”

Most of the approximately 19,500 kids currently living in temporary city housing are migrants, and many had already been enrolled in school, according to City Hall. Some 2,500 new temporary housing residents had enrolled since July, education officials said Wednesday.

The city’s DOE was making a big push to get asylum seeking children enrolled before Thursday’s opening bell, showing up at shelters to walk parents through the process.

Migrant parents that spoke to The Post about the enrollment process in Queens Tuesday said it had been “fast and easy.”

A letter that went out to school staffers this week noted the “wraparound services for new students entering the school system” under Project Open Arms, a partnership between the DOE and city social service agencies.

“Students may require assistance with their English language skills in order to interact with their peers and teachers, access the curriculum, and express their needs,” the missive said.

“If available, you are encouraged to identify a staff member at your school who can communicate in both English and the family’s preferred language. If no one at your school speaks a student’s home language, contact the Office of Language Access for language support.”

The nation’s largest school district had a $37.5 billion budget for the 2023-24 school year, $110 million of which was additional funding that had been allocated for migrant support.

The city had hired 188 teachers licensed to teach English as a new language, plus another 175 new teachers who are bilingual over the last year, Education Chancellor David Banks said Wednesday.

“We’ve given a record amount of money to education. The amount of money that has flowed to cities, in particular, under Foundation Aid was money they never had before, so, the resources are there this year for hiring,” Hochul said.

The governor than issued a warm welcome to newcomers to the country’s largest and most diverse school district.

“Once they step foot in our door, they’re our children and we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get the best outcomes.”