Good morning, this is Kasmira. This week, we heard from UNICEF that an average of 55 children have been fleeing Ukraine every minute over the past 20 days, leaving their homes – and their classrooms – behind. The education of children both leaving and still in Ukraine is being left in tatters by the war, but several initiatives have emerged to help bring the classroom to them. We report below.

18.03.2022

📘✍️ War-time education solutions for Ukraine’s children.

Children drawing at an art centre turned refugee shelter in Moldova after fleeing Ukraine, 14 March. (Credit: ©UNICEF/Modola)

Children in some parts of Ukraine returned to school on Monday after an official two-week “extraordinary holiday”, despite the intensifying fighting with Russian forces and many schools coming under attack. Some are resuming with distance-learning. But for others living in areas under heavy bombardment and experiencing internet outages, or forced to flee their homes, learning remains on hold.

Those who make it out of the country are receiving support from the UNHCR and host governments to integrate into local school systems, Karina Kleivan, a coordinator for the Global Education Cluster, who is leading the Cluster’s work in Ukraine, tells Geneva Solutions. Often this requires learning a new language. For students close to graduation for whom it is not practical to integrate, the UNHCR helps connect them with online learning programmes.

Read more on Geneva Solutions

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Opinion of the day

🇺🇦 What would neutrality look like for Ukraine? According to statements made by both sides, the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are about defining a "neutrality" status for Ukraine. This status is in fact, variable, and each neutrality status is different, says Marc Henzelin, a lawyer in Geneva specialised in international criminal law. From Sweden to Austria to Switzerland, Henzelin looks at the notion of neutrality and all its variations.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

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