Children of War: Studying in Three Schools Across Two Countries Amidst Trauma and Hardship

Houses were destroyed above their heads, they witnessed the death of teachers, suffered hunger and frost, were stripped down to their underwear at checkpoints… Now some of these children study in three schools at the same time – face-to-face in Latvia, online in Ukraine and in the Latvian Ukrainian learning center “Pērlīte” (“Perlina” ), whose last call “Delfi” had the opportunity to visit and talk with parents, children and teachers.

“One day before the lesson, I was sitting in the yard. My Ukrainian students were playing around. Suddenly a plastic bottle with water fell from the third floor. One child instantly fell to the ground, the others shrunk into trembling balls,” remembers Lidija, a Latvian language teacher. “These are very wounded souls.” But through the tears, a smile immediately appears: “I’m excited for these kids!”

Last school year, Ukrainian students in Latvia could study according to three formulas: in a Latvian school in the Latvian language, according to the Latvian Ukrainian minority program (not only in Latvian, but also learning the Ukrainian language and culture), online in Ukrainian schools in Ukrainian according to Ukrainian standards.

Half of the school children chose the first two options – lessons in Latvian. Assistance in learning a foreign language and subjects has been different in different schools – depending on the wishes and possibilities of students and teachers. Some parents discovered that their offspring had developed difficult relationships with Russian children at school – both local and from Russia. It is not easy to explain to teenagers with a traumatized psyche who is not to blame.

Online learning in Ukrainian schools has its own specifics: “on the other end” there are often airstrikes, electricity, the Internet goes out… Children could not count on help from their parents, who are trying to earn a living in Latvia. And, of course, all children really miss contact with their own. This is how the initiative to create the Latvian Ukrainian learning center “Pērlīte” was born, where Ukrainian teachers who have come to Latvia explain the learning material to children according to Ukrainian standards.