Hello, Ukrainian children in Prague said goodbye to Minister Gazdík
In the 1st Slavic grammar school, decorated balloons in blue-yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag, sweets, drinks, crayons and coloring books awaited the children of refugees in the classroom. Upon their arrival, they were welcomed by representatives of the school and the Ukrainian One-Class project together with Gazdík.
The mothers accompanied 12 children to the class, who came with their families from different regions of Ukraine. At first they were shouted, but later they dared to start having fun with the adults present. “Hi!” they then said goodbye to the minister.
The Prague grammar school opened five classes for 100 children on Monday. But next week after the end of the holidays, four of them will move to other Prague schools, leaving only the class for the fourth grades at the 1st Slavonic Grammar School.
“Today we introduced the children to the program, from tomorrow they will always start classes from nine to thirteen hours,” says the director of the 1st Slavonic Grammar School, Taťjana Pergler. She already has experience with the Ukrainian education system, for example, even before the conflict itself, she organized studies for Ukrainian children in their mother tongue on weekends.
A single class for refugees from Ukraine began to operate in the 1st Slavic grammar school.
Photo: Vít Šimánek, ČTK
“Educators, educational counselors and psychologists will do everything to orient children in the Czech environment and also to get to know Prague,” says Pergler. According to her, the first thing for refugee children is to recapture ideas and come up with other ideas.
The Ukrainian One-Class project was prepared by the Ukrainian Embassy together with the Children of Ukraine Endowment Fund and the Rector Emeritus of Charles University, Tomáš Zima, with the support of the Ministry of Education.
Children between the ages of about six and 17 can apply. Teaching is provided by Ukrainian teachers living in the Czech Republic and Czech teachers who are approved in the Ukrainian language.
“We have created a platform for the registration of students and for the possible registration of Ukrainian teachers and volunteers. We already have an increase of another hundred people, we solve it very operatively every day, “former rector of Charles University Tomáš Zima told Novinka.
According to him, approximately 20 schools in Prague and Brno have currently signed up for the project. “Teaching began today (Monday) in Brno,” he said.
Although there is now a spring holiday, according to him, about 200 children can go to one-class classes in two Brno schools. These are Cacovická Elementary School and Údolní Elementary School. He expects that more schools will be added gradually. “Last week we met with colleagues from Ostrava, where teaching should begin in the coming days,” he added.
One-class school for refugees from Ukraine at a grammar school in Prague
Photo: Petr Hloušek, Právo
According to him, dozens of volunteers from a number of students and teachers and other people with pedagogical experience from Ukraine offered their help with teaching.
“At the same time, we are launching an online teaching system for children who do not live in or near large cities. We are technically ready to start teaching, “Martin Mařan from the Children of Ukraine Foundation told the News.
The onslaught in Prague
According to the Minister of Education Petr Gazdík, the biggest problem at the moment is that most refugees go to Prague and Central Bohemia. He pointed out that there are few vacancies in schools and kindergartens in and around the capital.
“In order for the system to work, it (placement of children in schools) must be distributed throughout the country,” Gazdík said. According to him, it will therefore be necessary to convince the refugees that they must stay in other regions as well.
The opening of classes was attended by the Ministry of Education Petr Gazdík (right) and the Rector Emeritus of Charles University Tomáš Zima.
Photo: Vít Šimánek, ČTK
However, for children of refugees from Ukraine, however, other single classes will probably be created in Prague schools, according to information from Monday afternoon from Prague councilor Vít Šimral (Pirates). In the first phase, the capital wants to focus on the language skills of children to take care of their mental state.
Schools in Prague could be able to accommodate up to 10,000 Ukrainian children. The city will negotiate the system with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and other institutions are individual city districts. I don’t know how many children in what age categories Prague will take care of.
Šimral remarked that it was already clear that the family with the children would not return home in the near future. “We are counting on a longer-term scenario where we would try to educate the children in terms of language during this school year and create a background for them so that they can then start regular schools and integrate into the Czech majority,” he described.
Another problem that the municipality must address is the lack of teachers able to speak Ukrainian with children. Officials therefore find out which of the refugees has pedagogical education and experience.