Many school-age children are among the refugees from Ukraine. In many places they are taught in school classes specially set up for them in order to enable them to integrate quickly.
The city of Dresden is taking a special path. There is a whole school there just for Ukrainian children. A courageous move, which arose out of necessity and certainly met with criticism.
“It was important to us that the students find a home”
“It’s been a huge emergency since March. And of course that doesn’t correspond to our ideals of integration,” says Hagen Kettner, head of the State Office for Schools in Dresden. “However, it was important to us that the students first find a home.”
An open exercise book shows the first sentences of a young schoolgirl in German: “My name is Fanya”. The children are motivated, says Utta Taupadel, deputy head of the “Ukraine School”. “I saw lots of happy children here yesterday. They had friends to play with again – they were fun, they were relaxed, so you didn’t get the impression that they were from the war zone.”
An old school building from GDR times in Dresden-Kleinpestitz, which was mainly used as a temporary solution during construction work, has been made fit for new use.
Around 400 pupils are to be taught here by the summer. To ensure that operations are possible at all, around 50 Ukrainian teachers and assistant interpreters were hired.
Urgently learn German
Not all Ukrainian parents are happy with the solution, says Juliia Didenko, a teacher from Ukraine. “Because for the kids who might stay here for a certain amount of time, I don’t know if forever, they have to be integrated.
I also have a daughter. She is also in such a Ukrainian class. And the children don’t have as many opportunities to learn German, but they urgently need it.”
What is certain is that the more than 2,600 refugee children who have already been registered in Dresden will stay longer than until the summer. And there are likely to be many more.
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