“Education for Youth from TOT: Results of 2021 – Horizons 2022” Forum was held in Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region; it was organized by the NGO “Open Policy Foundation” in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with the support of the USAID “Democratic Governance in Eastern Ukraine” Project.
The event was attended by 46 educators from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Kherson regions and Kyiv, who work with schoolchildren and students from the temporarily occupied territories, among them: online education teachers, staff of admission committees, “Donbass / Crimea-Ukraine” educational centers, teachers of pre-study courses for applicants from the temporarily occupied territories. Along with consultants of the Government and regional hotlines, representatives of district, municipal education departments, activists from public organizations.
The three-day educational marathon, which was held in a mixed mode – offline and online, was dedicated to discussing the results of the admission campaign-2021 for children from the TOT, its analysis and prospects for 2022.
According to Svitlana Kretovych, Head of the Department of Education and Science of the Directorate for Internal and Humanitarian Policy of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the number of applicants who entered universities through “Donbass / Crimea-Ukraine” educational centers has increased this year: 2,083 persons used the service. In total, during the years of educational centers operation, 12,367 children from the temporarily occupied territories and the frontline zone entered Ukrainian universities.
During the work of the Educational Cafe, the teams worked on creating roadmaps for the communication campaign for Admission-2022 and developing documents aimed at minimizing the challenges associated with distance learning for children from the TOT. Participants shared cases of successful histories and mistakes that happened during the admission campaign, and shared histories related to professional worries and anxieties.
“I believe that the work on reintegration, including education, will continue. After all, there is a synergy of people who believe that children living in the temporarily occupied territories have a future, and help them. The smiles of students who came from the temporarily occupied territories, their first achievements in education – this is what inspires them to continue to work and teach to the fullest,”- said Olena Gorlova, Head of the “Donbass-Ukraine” Educational Center at the Horlivka Institute of Foreign Languages.
During the joint work, the participants elaborated documents that will be useful in strategic planning of the future admission campaign. Thus, a detailed communicative road map of the “Admission-2022 for TOT residents” media campaign was worked out for higher education institutions. Its developers took into account the needs of universities and the challenges faced by participants in the admission campaign-2021 (closed entry-exit checkpoints (EECP), quarantine barriers, problems of applicants with voice and psychological adaptation). In view of these challenges, the Forum participants worked out specific proposals that will allow universities to more effectively inform about the educational opportunities of institutions and plan their work in 2022.
Svit newspaper, № 1 – 2, January, 2021