Education
“SzkoUA” (School for UA) was created for Ukrainian children who fled the war and found refuge in Warsaw. It aimed to address an urgent need for safety and a normal life, and to provide an opportunity to complete the interrupted school year.
On KIK’s initiative, in April 2022, in just three weeks, this 11-grade Ukrainian school was opened thanks to the collaboration with a number of partners: Stowarzyszenie Przymierze Rodzin, Polska Fundacja Szkolna, Fundacja Orientyr HUB, Zjednoczona Gmina Dawidów and Fundacja “Nasz Wybór”, which runs the Ukrainian Home (Ukraiński Dom) in Warsaw. “SzkoUA” provides education in Ukrainian, in line with the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, with the support of Ukrainian pedagogues and psychologists. “SzkoUA” can operate thanks to the support of Polish and foreign NGOs including, in particular, Save the Children International.
In the 2021/2022 school year, as many as 270 students from 11 grades managed to complete their interrupted education. The school hired 33 Ukrainian staff members including teachers, administrative staff, after-school club teachers, cloakroom staff, a nurse, a psychologist, a pedagogist and the school management board.
In the 2022/23 school year, “SzkoUA” provided education for 270 Ukrainian children. Since September 2023, the school has been offering education in line with two systems: the Ukrainian one and the Polish one.
“The school’s main objective was not to provide education per se, but to build a safe place for children to open up and make new friends in a Ukrainian-speaking environment. This is “SzkoUA”’s primary goal. Learning comes second. The most important thing is that children do not look back and that they progress,” says Antonina Michałowska, Vice-Head of “SzkoUA”, the Ukrainian School in Warsaw.
“Here, at “SzkoUA”, the heart of KIK is beating. A community has formed here. As we said goodbye to the eleventh-grade graduates, a map of where the school’s students came from was displayed. And when we were looking at the map, it turned out that they came from all over Ukraine,” says the President of Club of Catholic Intelligentsia. Jakub Kiersnowski emphasises another advantage of this initiative. “Before the war, Ukraine was a polarised country. Here, children from different regions had the chance to meet each other, which would not be possible under normal circumstances. Here, in Warsaw, they made friends. I hope this will bear fruit in the future, especially when it’s finally possible to rebuild Ukraine.”
Memories:
Funding:
Save the Children International, Norwegian Refugee Council
The official website of "SzkoUA":
Visite the official website of “SzkoUA” >>