Catching Up on educational losses in eastern Ukraine

Educational losses of children due to the war have become a challenge that the NGO “Responsible Citizens” started addressing last year. In the complex of our educational programs, this sensitive direction holds a special place, as our task is to create conditions and opportunities for students to catch up on their school curriculum. Most often, these are students who simply had no opportunity to learn material from core subjects due to relocations, lack of communication in frontline communities, blackouts, etc.

“Due to the war, schoolchildren in eastern Ukraine have lost the ability to fully acquire knowledge, which may lead to catastrophic consequences, such as losing the chance to pursue their dream profession, enter higher education institutions, and realize their potential in life. That is why, in our educational project activities, we focused on teacher training for the implementation of programs to address educational losses, as well as specific lessons for school-aged children in all major subjects. In this direction, we have made sure to include children with disabilities and special educational needs, adapting special measures for them,” emphasizes the Head of the Board of the NGO “Responsible Citizens,” Olga Kosse.

Currently, as a result of our project activities, 40 teachers have been trained to help children catch up on educational losses. A total of 4,620 children from Eastern Ukraine have participated in knowledge recovery programs. Additionally, 24 children with disabilities have had the opportunity to engage in a specialized program that includes support from subject teachers and speech therapists/defectologists.