Ukrainian children are struggling to progress in their education, the United Nations’s children’s agency (UNICEF) has warned.
“Inside Ukraine, attacks on schools have continued unabated, leaving children deeply distressed and without safe spaces to learn,” said UNICEF’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, Regina De Dominicis.
“Not only has this left Ukraine’s children struggling to progress in their education, but they are also struggling to retain what they learnt when their schools were fully functioning,” she said.
Survey data showed that around half of teachers reported deterioration in Ukrainian students’ skills in mathematics, Ukrainian language proficiency and foreign language proficiency, UNICEF said.
The agency added that one-third of children were learning fully in-person, a third online and a third both in-person and online.
The agency stressed that online learning was not a proper long-term replacement for in-person schooling.
UNICEF warned that two-thirds of preschool children were not attending preschool.
It also pointed to difficulties faced by Ukrainian refugee children, with more than half of them not enrolled in national education systems in their respective host countries. “Some refugee children may have completely abandoned their education,” UNICEF said.
“In times of crisis or war, schools provide far more than a place of learning,” said UNICEF.
“They can provide children who have already endured loss, displacement and violence with a sense of routine and safety, a chance to build friendships and get help from teachers.”
