WARSAW FOR THE CHILDREN OF UKRAINE

More than 17,000 war refugees from Ukraine are studying in Warsaw schools and kindergartens. Warsaw provides them with comprehensive support, including integration programs.

We estimate that more than 5% of all students in Warsaw are children and young people who have fled the war in Ukraine. We provide them with places in kindergartens and schools, but also remote learning points, psychological assistance, nutrition and integration programs,” said Rafał Trzaskowski, Warsaw Mayor. “Very important for us is the financial support we have received from many entities, most notably the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF. The war in Ukraine is still ongoing, so help is still needed,” he added.

Due to the outbreak of war across the eastern border, more than 17,000 children and young people from Ukraine have joined kindergartens and schools in the Warsaw area. More than 14,000 of them attend the city’s educational institutions, of which more than 3,000 attend kindergartens and preschool divisions, nearly 10,000 attend elementary schools, and just over 1,000 attend secondary schools.

Ukrainian children and adolescents join existing classes and preparatory divisions, of which 124 are currently established and operate in 72 schools - 60 elementary and 12 high schools.

“Since the outbreak of the war, we have provided Ukrainian students with access to education in two ways. The first is access to residential education in Warsaw schools. Thanks to cooperation with UNICEF and private partners, we have also organized remote learning sites so that children and young people continue their education in the Ukrainian system,” said Renata Kaznowska, deputy mayor of Warsaw.

Warsaw has organized 48 online learning points for young people studying online in the Ukrainian system. The sites are equipped with computer stations connected to the network, and students are under the supervision of Ukrainian teachers. The remote learning points are located at the Palace of Youth, the Wola Education and Development Center and district after-school facilities, among others. Distance learning sites for Ukrainian students are funded by UNICEF.

In cooperation with the Polish Center for International Aid (PCPM), 300 Ukrainian teachers have been hired to assist Polish teachers in schools - the project is funded by the PCPM.

Thanks to an agreement with UNICEF, the organization financed, among other things, the “Joint Summer in Warsaw” campaign, where Polish and Ukrainian students were able to receive care in schools and a wide range of activities last summer.

The winter edition of the “Joint Warsaw Winter” action is currently underway. This is an offer to spend winter holidays in Warsaw prepared for Ukrainian children who arrived in Poland after February 24, 2022.

“We have been preparing such an offer for Warsaw schoolchildren for years and it is very popular. We currently have nearly 1,000 Ukrainian children enrolled in the “Common Warsaw Winter” project - about 600 of them participate in activities every day. As part of the action, we also provide care and food. Free places are updated on an ongoing basis,” Kaznowska said.

Participation in the action is free for refugee children

- the project is financed by UNICEF, which has allocated about PLN 1.6 million. Spending depends on the number of Ukrainian children enrolled.

Almost from the first days of the war in Ukraine, Warsaw has launched psychological support for young refugees from Ukraine and their families. Currently, 26 city psychological-educational counseling centers throughout the city offer the help of specialists - in almost half of them consultations are conducted in Ukrainian, in the rest visits are held in English, among other languages. The counseling centers have received additional funds to equip them with materials and aids for working with refugee children and youth.

The “Mobile Psychologist with Ukrainian Language” project is also currently being implemented, which includes psychological support for Ukrainian students in Warsaw kindergartens and schools. A team of psychologists commutes to the establishments and provides the necessary support, at the same time involving specialists who work locally (school pedagogues, psychologists) in the assistance processes. Activities carried out in 2022 were financed with funds from the Bloomberg Foundation. In January-March, the implemen- tation of the program is made possible by the UNICEF Fund. The Center for Education and Development has been operating since mid-June 2022 and uses space (about 1,500 sq. ft.) lent by Alior Bank in an office building, which is located on Towarowa Street in Wola. Thanks to funds from UNICEF, the facility has been equipped with necessary furniture, computer equipment, teaching aids and toys. The City of Warsaw is responsible for the operation of the center.

The center is a facility specifically for refugee children and their families. The facility includes remote learning spaces for youngsters studying online in the Ukrainian system and clubs for younger children. The center also runs an information desk where students and parents can learn about Warsaw’s educational offerings and sign up for ongoing classes. The center also operates a psychological support point on a large scale - so far more than 10,000 people, mainly children and adolescents, have benefited from this form of assistance here. The support is provided by Ukrainian psychologists, whose work is supervised by the city’s Psychological Care Society (TOP) Clinic. Polish language courses are held at the facility, as well as a number of other classes, such as economics, programming and art workshops.

To date, 27,000 children and their parents have benefited from the entire offer of the Center for Education and Development.

Warsaw also has a Point of Contact and a Team for Teaching Foreign Children, which assists teachers and headmasters of schools where foreign children, including refugee and immigrant children, as well as re-emigrating Polish children, are taught.

In addition, the city’s teacher training institution, i.e. the Warsaw Center for Educational and Social Innovation and Training (WCIES), organizes courses and training for Polish and Ukrainian teachers. The offer has been prepared for all educational stages and is related to, among other things: adaptation in a Polish school, learning Polish as a foreign language, methods of working with foreign students, models of the support system for foreigners.