“The children are always so curious and participate so well that the extra lessons are a real relief!” The young woman carries the newly planted pansies and the warm May morning sun in Kharkiv’s Shevchenko Park as she returns from her reported volunteer work.
Anastasija Hladkich, 23, is a biology teacher in a private school and also teaches
All her classes take place online. Since the Russian attack in February 2022, there has been only distance learning wherever there is a lack of reliable bomb shelters in the school building and surrounding area. As was the case during the corona pandemic. Many young school children in Ukraine hardly know everyday school life anymore.
Anastasia Hladkich. – Quelle: Peggy Lohse
An early morning walk in the city park is good for Anastasija. Kharkiv is a target of Russian missiles, drones and aerial bombs almost every day. But this is a rare quiet May morning. A few days after our meeting, Russia will launch a new attack against the Kharkiv region, destroying half of Vovchansk near the border in a few weeks.
“I live here in Kharkiv and I have learned from the continuous shooting not to lower my head,” says Anastasija. She speaks in a focused and pointed manner. Seven years ago she came to Kharkiv to study from Donetsk, the main city in the east that has been under dispute since 2014 and has been in Russia since then. »Sometimes I feel that I have a lot the commonality with the students from the residential areas – they use words they know, and I know their pronunciation and knowledge.”
Russian occupation against Ukrainian education
There are not many confirmed reports about what is happening in the areas where Russia lives. The information mostly comes from people who could leave the team. Russia’s ongoing war is destroying many means of communication. Combat operations and occupation policies make on-site research impossible.
According to the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, the war has already destroyed 3,435 educational institutions and damaged 439 –
62,400 children continue to study online at Ukrainian educational institutions, according to the Ministry of Education of Ukraine. And according to the Ukrainian education database, USEDE, at least 3,675 young people from regions occupied by Russia started studying at Ukrainian universities in 2023 – that’s 1.7% of the new bachelor students.
The Ukrainian NGO Almenda provides
The focus of Russian propaganda – including the resident curriculum – is the militarization and heroism of the Russian army, which over time destroys the children’s Ukrainian identity.
Particular attention is paid to the subject of history,
This is also confirmed by the Human Rights Watch report from June 2024:
The Ukrainian children in the occupation are fascinated by anti-Ukrainian propaganda from the Kremlin. You will also receive military training as part of the curriculum.
This mandates history books that justify the Russian invasion and portray Ukraine and its government as a “non-Nazi state,” and prohibits instruction in the Ukrainian language. This violates “the right of Ukrainian children to an education that reflects respect for their ‘own cultural identity, language and values’ as well as the ‘national values’ of the child’s country of origin” which is enshrined in Co -United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Leading politicians also emphasize that the socio-political issues related to childhood and education under conditions of war are the main questions for the future of society and the economy of Ukraine. A small club recognized for years.
Do what seems impossible
Over a good coffee in a hip new bookstore in downtown Kyiv, twentysomethings Olha Kowal and Olena Pawliuk talk about their passion project. Together with Anastasija Bjeljajewa, they founded the Znovu school initiative in 2020.
The three met at the Teach for Ukraine school project, which sends teaching graduates to schools in small towns and villages to spread new methods in the school landscape and give young teachers professional experience. At the last meeting, a mutual friend pointed this out to them: his little brother had stayed in Donetsk under a pro-Russian occupation after 2014 – and in six years he lost almost all contact with language, culture and Ukrainian society. How was he supposed to maintain it when school, media and everyday life were now under the influence of Russian propaganda?
“That opened our eyes: we lived and worked there all the time as teachers, but we didn’t even think that the young people there would lose their Ukrainian education!” Olena said. And Olha: »I come from Luhansk, which also fought over and lived at the time. I know there are still a lot of pro-Ukrainian people.”
“For many of us, the occupation of Russia is also a personal story,” says Olena.
Olha Kowal and Olena Pawliuk. – Source: Peggy Lohse
So the three of them thought: How can we provide safe online lessons to young people in residential areas? What do you need? How do you reach them? And all without risk? Several witness reports show that for sympathizing or communicating with Ukrainian institutions or pro-Ukrainian groups, under Russian occupation there is a risk of arbitrary persecution, imprisonment, deportation, torture and even murder
Human Rights Watch reports on a student in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, who was moved by Russian security forces to a remote location with a bag over his head and left to fend for himself because he speak Ukrainian at school. Occupancy authorities are threatening parents with fines, loss of custody and imprisonment if they do not enroll their children in Russian schools or attend Ukrainian online schools.
Any carelessness with personal information can be dangerous.
Safety always comes first
Znovu’s preparation took half a year. Together with an IT security company that also works for Ukrainian ministries, they created a concept. They chose a server service that is rarely associated with educational programs and is not blocked in Russia. Proven encryption technology.
There is a new entry link for every hour. Only first names or nicknames are used in the online rooms. Discussions of specific locations, war situations and politics are excluded. Students from residential areas often participate without a camera – so as not to reveal the location or because the internet is too weak.
Only students whose parents have been notified and agreed to participate in the program. “We have to do that,” said Olha. Education is important, but safety is more important.”
Znovu also networked with the few active NGOs in eastern Ukraine and gathered contacts with teachers and students. In the first school year 2020/21, the organizers taught themselves: Olha – English, Olena – good and Anastasija – Ukrainian. In total there were nine teachers for eight subjects and 12 students, ten from the residential areas in the east. The learners could choose up to four subjects in which they would like to be tested in the exam. “Most of them do three subjects,” said the organizers, “some even five.”
“The first one was a trial year – back then we still had a lot of personal stories,” Olena remembers. Many graduates came to Znovu later. Since then, the number of participants has increased twentyfold: there were more than 800 registrations for the school year 2023/24, and in the end 250 students were taught by 88 teachers. The teachers must have experience; many have also experienced Russian occupation and/or escape. At Znovu you will receive preparatory training in digital security and psychology.
Registrations for the new school year are currently ongoing from the autumn of 2024. After registration, there is a test on the level of knowledge, then a selection is made according to proven motivation and regional priorities: residential areas, free regions, front areas, internally displaced people, those who fled from abroad.
From the Eastern War to the Great War
Although Znovu was already offering Ukrainian lessons to young people in the territories occupied by Russia by 2022, the world war changed their work significantly.
Between 2014 and 2022 there were still crossings: people – especially young, older and women – could travel back and forth to the authorities or visit family – although there would be checkpoints and controls false border. At least young people from residential areas could travel to Ukrainian high school diploma exams or university entrance exams. Znovu offered them exam preparation according to the Ukrainian curriculum.
2024-10-09 01:03:00
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