Study in Ukraine remotely or send your child to a Polish school – in an interview for RBC-Ukraine.
After the full-scale invasion of Russia on February 24, more than half a million children from Ukraine left for Poland. Many of them went to local Polish schools, and some are studying online according to the Ukrainian school curriculum.
Several Ukrainian schools also operate in the country. One of the largest is “The First Ukrainian School in Poland” from the “Unbreakable Ukraine” foundation. She works in three cities – Warsaw, Wroclaw and Krakow. More than 700 children from Ukraine are already studying there, and they want to accept even more in the fall. Training takes place according to the Ukrainian educational program and is completely free.
Co-founder of the foundation Victoria Gnap told TRAVEL RBC-Ukraine , how to choose a Polish or Ukrainian school for a child, how our educational systems differ and how Ukrainians who have just moved to Poland with their children should act.
“There is clearly a lack of places for Ukrainian children in the largest cities of Poland”
— Victoria, how many children from Ukraine moved to Poland after the Russian invasion of Ukraine? How many of them study in local schools, and how many – online?
According to UNICEF, more than 500,000 Ukrainian children left for Poland (since February 24 — ed.). As of the end of the spring semester, the end of May this year, approximately 190,000 children studied in Polish schools. About 25,000 of them are in kindergartens, 120,000 are in primary school, and the rest are in middle and high school.
It is not known how many children study online in Ukrainian schools. The Ukrainian authorities, in particular the Ministry of Education and Science, turn a blind eye to this problem. If you ask them where the Ukrainian children are and where they left, there will be no answer. Because there are no statistics. The big problem we have faced with donors is that no one knows how many children and where.
The Polish education system is currently very overloaded, they were not ready for such a challenge. There is clearly a shortage of places for Ukrainian children in the largest cities. Although at the beginning of spring, the Minister of Education and Science of Poland stated that no other education system could be created, except for the Polish one. That is, any other training systems are prohibited. The children tried to join the Polish classes, but later everyone realized that the Polish school could not cope with such a large number of students.
We are trying to fill this gap, to help relieve the burden on Polish schools. We provide Ukrainian children with continuous offline education, and also according to the Ukrainian program, which reduces the level of stress for parents and children.
We do not interact with the Polish authorities. Various departments of education in Poland were contacted, and I cannot say that they refuse to cooperate, but they do not promote it either. We don’t touch them, they don’t touch us, everyone pretends that no one exists.
– How are children from Ukraine perceived in Polish schools? Teachers, children?
Positively. Poles in general try very hard to help and support at all stages to the best of their ability.
“Ukrainian children have to go back to class and lose a year”
— What are the main problems faced by those who went to Polish schools? For example, with adaptation, financial support?
The main problems are, of course, the language barrier and the mismatch of education systems. Ukrainian children have to go back a grade in the Polish education system and lose a year. For many parents, this becomes a kind of stopping factor in choosing a Polish school.
As for financial security, I can say that for Ukrainian parents every penny is important at the moment, because expenses that were not at home appeared abroad: the need to rent housing at high prices, and the purchase of seasonal clothes (because they left only in winter) — therefore, in our schools, we try to partially cover the parents’ expenses — we provide stationery, shoulder pads, and for the new academic year we have prepared tablets for learning.
— In schools in Poland, children immediately enter the educational process exclusively in the Polish language. How quickly do they adapt to this format? Many children learn languages extremely quickly, but do any of them lag behind in math or, say, chemistry?
Polish schools are trying to create integration courses for learning Polish for children. These are good quality courses that provide a basic but thorough knowledge of the language. However, the number of such courses is small, they are rather characteristic of schools in large cities in Poland.
According to parents, children “learn” quite quickly. And sometimes they do it faster and better than their parents. But yes, there is a problem with knowing the language. If a few Ukrainian children who do not understand the teacher get into a Polish class, they “pull” the class down, so the overall level of education drops. Polish parents are not happy about this, but the teacher has no choice but to focus on the “weaker” in the class.
Whether to hire a tutor in cases where the parents see that the child is starting to lag behind is always the parents’ choice. Often, parents would like to do this, but do not have the financial ability.
“If you plan to return, it is better to go to a Ukrainian school”
— How can parents choose a school in Poland for their child? What to pay attention to?
If parents have just left for Poland, they should familiarize themselves with the official information on Polish government resources as soon as possible. For this purpose, special websites have been created in Poland, where all information is presented in a very accessible way, and also in Ukrainian. Just google it.
Parents always decide on the issue of continuing their children’s education. Choosing a Ukrainian or Polish school should take into account the situation and future goals. If the plans to stay in Poland are long-term and the child plans to enter a Polish university, then it is preferable to go to a Polish school. In a year, the child will learn the language well and will be able to enroll in a free department of a Polish university.
If there are plans to return, then, of course, it is better to go to a Ukrainian school or stay in your Ukrainian online school. Ukrainian schools in Poland, like ours, usually also have good Polish language preparatory courses. It is necessary for life. After all, this is respect for the country.
— And how to act if the children and their parents moved to a Polish village or small town — continue studying in Ukraine online or send your child to a local school?
As for small towns, as the parents explain, they have few options to choose from. They usually send their children to local Polish schools, if there are places.
Let’s consider the arguments in favor of the options of Ukrainian or Polish schools.
Advantages of Ukrainian schools in Poland:
- Continuous learning according to the usual, not a foreign program, which creates a safer environment for children and reduces the level of stress;
- Harmonized step-by-step study of educational subjects according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine;
- Lack of differences between educational programs and classes;
- Better understanding and assimilation of the material thanks to teaching in the native language, absence of a language barrier;
- Possibility to take preparatory courses on learning the Polish language;
- The possibility of a smooth transition to study (in the same or the next grade) in a Ukrainian school in Ukraine without the need to take additional exams and tests;
- Learning the Ukrainian language and history, maintaining a connection with the Ukrainian identity and fostering love for the native country;
Advantages of Polish schools:
- Advanced level of learning the Polish language;
- Better adaptation to admission to university and other higher education institutions in Poland, since children are already studying according to the relevant national program;
- International recognition of Polish education documents;
- Training takes place in a room specially equipped for the school and with the use of everything necessary for conducting classes;
- A higher level of integration into the Polish-speaking environment and Polish society.
— What is needed to enroll a student in a Polish school?
The entry procedure and rules are well described on the government website Poland:
- To begin with, you need to choose a school from list of schools Poland;
- After that, it is necessary to submit an application for the adoption of the child. This can be done by a parent or official guardian. Documents confirming the child’s attendance at school in Ukraine should be attached to the application for admission of the child to school. There is no need to translate these documents into Polish;
- Then submit all documents to the director of the chosen school. This is a birth certificate, report card from the previous class, personal file, characteristics and vaccination card;
- If there are no documents confirming the child’s education, you should write a statement about the total years of education of the child at a school in Ukraine and indicate the school/schools the child studied at.
In Polish public schools, education for children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 is free and compulsory, just like in Ukraine.
“Registration for the autumn semester is closed because there are many applicants”
— How many schools within the Educational Center “The First Ukrainian School in Poland” will be operational in the next academic year?
The educational initiative “The First Ukrainian School in Poland” is a project that arose due to the urgent need to provide education to evacuated children from Ukraine who, fleeing the war, found shelter in Poland. The project was created by the “Unbreakable Ukraine” foundation in March 2022, in accordance with the Ukrainian curriculum of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
To date, three Ukrainian schools have been established in the cities of Warsaw, Wroclaw and Krakow, providing children with all the necessary materials for learning free of charge. The educational centers of the foundation have a Ukrainian pedagogical staff of teachers and directors. In addition, the study of the Polish language and the completion (if desired) of a rehabilitation course by psychologists are provided.
In addition to the educational program, the “First Ukrainian School in Poland” has an entertainment program. There are often school creative and sports competitions, dances and film screenings, concerts and master classes, excursions to other cities or museums, flash mobs in support of Ukraine and thanks to friendly Poland. On a permanent basis, there are interest groups: taekwondo, choreography, robotics, children’s diplomacy, English club and others.
For the period of the summer holidays, the “First Ukrainian School in Poland” in the cities of Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow and Rzeszów organized summer pre-school camps for children of all grades. And also Polish-Ukrainian clubs. The purpose of their creation is learning the Polish language and an additional opportunity for children to make friends.
— How can a child get to study in Ukrainian schools within the framework of this project?
It was possible to get in by registering through the Telegram chatbot. Registration for the fall semester is now closed because we have a lot of applicants.
— How does studying in such schools differ from studying in Polish institutions?
Program. The Ukrainian educational program of secondary schools is not identical to the Polish program of primary and secondary schools. For example, in Ukraine, the graduation classes are 9th and 11th, and in Poland – 8th and 12th. The items and their quantity also differ.
We work according to the standards of the Ministry of Education and Culture. We have in-depth study of the English language, and the study of a second foreign language – Polish.
— Are you planning to expand the geography of Ukrainian schools in Poland? Where exactly do you plan to open?
Since we have schools in three cities in Poland (Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw) and summer camps in four (Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw and Rzeszow), we have encountered a great demand for training in Rzeszow itself.
Many parents and teachers are constantly requesting to open additional schools in other cities (Poznan, Gdansk). We would love to do that, but we currently have financial constraints that we are trying to manage. We are sure that our schools will soon be in other cities as well.
“Over 56% of Ukrainian refugee children already study in Polish schools”
— How many parents with children want to return home, and how many plan to stay in Poland?
We communicate a lot directly with parents. To be honest, most parents are in a state of uncertainty. Many returned to Ukraine and many were going to do so in the summer. But, given the recent increase in shelling of Ukrainian cities, they changed their minds. Unfortunately, the situation in Ukraine does not guarantee safety and the launch of the educational process offline.
According to the figures we collected in the spring, when we interviewed parents via the Telegram bot, more than 56% of Ukrainian refugee children are already studying in Polish schools. Approximately 28% continued to study online in Ukrainian schools (the situation will change by the fall, because parents prefer offline education). Only 4% of Ukrainian refugee children studied in a Ukrainian school in Poland.
The numbers we collected in the summer were already different: 53% of parents plan to send their children to Polish schools, 17% will study remotely in Ukrainian schools, and 8% want to find a Ukrainian school.
I will quote one mother-teacher who works for us, and her daughter will go to the first grade at our school:
“As a mother of a first-grader, I have fears about learning. Because I used to clearly understand which school my daughter will go to and how to plan my schedule to pick her up from school. Now it is very difficult, as they say, to make the right choice. Because most of the parents who left for Poland understand that it is quite difficult for children to study online + the state of war affects the emotional state and the desire to learn. For myself, I decided to send my child to a Ukrainian school in Wroclaw, as I plan to return home after the end of the war. It is wonderful that our children have the opportunity to study abroad, but according to the Ukrainian program and with Ukrainian children and teachers. However, parents who plan to stay here in the future send their children to a Polish school. Studying in a Polish school is more difficult for parents than for children, because children learn the language much faster and can communicate with their peers.”
— Do you think that more children and their parents should return to Ukraine? Because many Ukrainians plan to stay in Poland even after our victory in the war.
According to statistics, about 40% of people who are displaced by war remain in other countries. But I hope that as soon as we win, everyone will return to their homes.
Source: RBC Ukraine Travel