Refugee children from Ukraine study online in first classroom at placement center in Moldova

Chisinau, April 11 / MOLDPRES /- First classroom of online studies has been arranged for refugee children from Ukraine at the placement center at the Provisional Basic Sanatorium CONSTRUCTORUL Chisinau. School supplies and 20 laptops were brought to the classroom to ensure that children have access to online education platforms so that they can continue their studies with their teachers and colleagues from Ukraine, the government's communication and protocol department has reported.

Most pupils are in primary school.

Ecaterina Kornienko is from Odessa and, together with her children aged 10 and 4, respectively, arrived in Moldova in early March. She has been in the placement center at Constructorul for three weeks now and has gladly agreed to be a supervisor and guide the students during the online lessons.

"It's a war, but life goes on and we have to work and learn. Online education is a new reality and maybe, in this way, these children will learn to adapt more easily to other difficult situations in their lives ", says Ecaterina.

Svetlana Turcanu, Deputy Secretary-General of the Government said "after more than a month in which the Government has made every effort to identify, authorize and provide refugee placement centers with all the necessities, in recent weeks we have been focusing on ensuring access to education for the more than 47,000 refugee children. We examine different forms of employment - online education with teachers in Ukraine or employment in schools in the Republic of Moldova ".

Adriana Cazacu, Secretary of State, Ministry of Education and Research, said “Even in the early days of the war, we had a joint meeting with colleagues from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and discussed ensuring access to education for Ukrainian refugee children. The recommendation of the Ukrainian Ministry was to connect children online to their schools and teachers. Pandemic has developed the online method of education and, respectively, every child knows their classmates, teachers and can make this connection very easily no matter where in the corner of the world they are ”.

In the next period, two more places in the placement centers in the country will be adapted for online education. Classrooms are provided with technical equipment, furniture and supplies by international non-governmental organizations Moldova World Children's Fund, SmartAid, the International Center for Cooperation and Development Phoenix, as well as economic agents.

"It is very important that pupils from Ukraine continue their education and succeed in finishing the school year. At this time, we have a budget for two more classrooms with 20 computers each. It is a pilot project and based on these examples we will look for donors to open more classes in other placement centers in Moldova. It is an effective partnership between the Government, NGOs and economic agents willing to help children in Ukraine learn during the war, "said John N. Maxemchuk, vice president of Moldova World Children's Fund.

"The Single Center for Crisis Management (CUGC) is working with all interested organizations to create good conditions for refugees in Ukraine. In this regard, we have provided all the necessary support to Moldova World Children’s Fund to identify the space and arrange this online education class ", Colonel Adrian Efros, CUGC head said.

At the placement center opened inside the Basic Provisional Sanatorium CONSTRUCTORUL there are currently 100 refugees, including about 50 children. All information on refugee children’s access to education can be found here: https://bit.ly/3v6R7Jo

Photo: Government