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On October 16, a press conference was held at the “Ukrinform” news agency on the topic “Education for everyone! An innovative project for local communities in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts,” which was organized by the NGO “Open Policy Foundation” with the support of the Embassy of the Lithuanian Republic in Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. On this day, the Foundation summarized the Ukrainian-Lithuanian project outcomes and announced plans for the future.

“Every child, no matter where he or she lives, needs a quality, innovative education. But in order for children to receive this knowledge, we must teach the educators, - said Iryna ZHDANOVA, the Executive Director of the Open Policy Foundation, Ph.D. in History, founder of the International School named after Klim Churyumov. - In fact, this is the direction of our project “Education for everyone!”, which is being implemented with the support of the Embassy of the Lithuanian Republic in Ukraine. The Ministry of Education and Science is currently making considerable efforts in reforming the education system and our public organization sees its mission precisely in assistance. And not only in supporting schools, but what should be done for those schools that have not become supporting schools, schools in small towns and villages.”

According to the head of the Foundation, there are three main problems. “First, in the process of decentralization, there is a shortage of project teams, without which it is impossible to develop and implement projects, - noted Iryna ZHDANOVA. - Secondly, it is necessary to improve the skills of teachers and educators in general on the use of modern digital technologies, including gadgets. Today, smartphones can make a revolution in education. But, just as there should be an individual study map for each child, so it should be for the teacher. Because a teacher from a rural school or area along the contact line may not have the digital learning technologies that teachers from big cities have. Thirdly, the implementation of an information campaign is a problem. It is not only about creating information products and promoting at the national, regional, and local levels but also the ability to develop communication strategies at the regional, local levels. However, unfortunately, the information campaign in Ukraine is very difficult to conduct, since educational projects do not become the focus of the media, so it is extremely important to teach educators in the East.”

More than 150 teachers, representatives of the Institutes of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education, “Donbas-Ukraine” educational centers, vocational schools, universities, representatives of education departments have already been trained in project management, fundraising, application of STEAM/STREAM methods, SCRUM management, Cool Digital in education - thanks to the project “Education for everyone! Increasing the institutional capacity of local communities in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts,” which was implemented by the Open Policy Foundation with the support of the Embassy of the Lithuanian Republic in Ukraine.

“I want to thank the Open Policy Foundation for its work in the field of education, which we are pleased to support. Indeed, for the Lithuanian Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, education is one of the clear priorities in terms of assistance projects for Ukraine, - noted Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to Ukraine Mr. Marius JANUKONIS. - Because investing in children is a very important investment in the future. Even more so, we are happy to support this project, which concerns the distance education of children living in the non-government controlled areas, because they are citizens of Ukraine, they are Ukrainians and should have access to innovative education, to the New Ukrainian school. And we see concrete results. I was very pleasantly surprised that approximately 12,000 children from the non-government controlled territories are already studying remotely in schools in the government-controlled areas. This means that these children, their parents have not lost faith in Ukraine, they associate themselves with the Ukrainian state. This is very important for us and for the Ukrainian Government.”

“One of the priority areas of the state is to ensure the right to life and health for children, as well as the right to education, - said Roman HREBA, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine. - Therefore, the Ukrainian state is doing everything necessary to ensure that children who are in the non-government controlled areas and internally displaced persons have access to high-quality, comprehensive education. Now about 60,000 children study in Ukrainian schools in the government-controlled territories. In the “gray zone,” about 160 schools continue to operate, where about 20,000 children study. As a result of the Russian armed aggression on the territory of Ukraine, about 200 educational institutions were damaged. We are grateful to our foreign partners, including the Government of Lithuania, who help us in rebuilding those schools, as well as providing access to education for children who are in the non-government controlled territory.”

“The main problem for teachers is the pedagogical inversion that needs to be overcome. And for this we need not only to create a new educational environment for children but also for teachers, which would allow the teacher to grow professionally,” said Iryna TSYMBAL, the director of the Luhansk Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences. She stressed the need to create a new educational environment for teachers that would help them develop professionally.

It is important that during the press conference for the first time Iryna Zhdanova, the Head of the Open Policy Foundation, and Iryna Tsymbal, the Director of the Luhansk Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education, signed a Cooperation Agreement on the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Education” and presented a certificate of the delegation of teacher training services that is an excellent example of a state-public partnership.

FOR REFERENCE:

According to the information presented by the regional departments of education in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, a request for distance education is present and continues to grow. The number of children from the non-government controlled areas who study in distance learning schools or external students from government-controlled areas has increased:

• today, about 12,000 students are on external studies (about 1.5 thousand of them are covered by distance learning) in Donetsk region;
• 809 schoolchildren study remotely/on external studies (584 of them study in graduate classes) in Luhansk region.

In the framework of the project “Education for everyone! Improving the institutional capacity of local communities in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts”, which was implemented by the Open Policy Foundation with the support of the Embassy of the Lithuanian Republic in Ukraine, more than 150 teachers, representatives of postgraduate pedagogical education institutes, “Donbas-Ukraine” educational centers, vocational schools, universities, representatives of education departments received training in project management, fundraising, the use of innovative STEM/STREAМ methods, Cool Digital in education, SCRUM and conducting an information campaign. They also learned how to teach students robotics, engineering, 3D modeling without interactive whiteboards and expensive LEGO kits — using affordable, renewable materials, and creating a learning space with inexpensive furniture.

As part of the project, two training courses at the International Green School, which is located in the village of Kosmach, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and a number of webinars, a conference call in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were conducted.

Two video instructions for children and young people from the non-government controlled of Ukraine and areas along the “contact line” were created regarding the simplified procedure of entry through the “Donbas-Ukraine” educational centers and the possibility to get an education remotely.

Video instruction for applicants from the east of Ukraine - 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu7Vheay37w&t=2s

Video instruction “Secondary education for children from Eastern Ukraine - 2018”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrsLm9X_dd0&t=14s

Two videos were also created: on problems of distance education for children in the non-government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine and success stories of teachers from schools along the contact line about the innovative skills they received during the training courses.

The Available Education website (dostupnaosvita.com.ua) of the Open Policy Foundation will become an assistant in receiving secondary education remotely, where free video lessons, presentations, and tests are available for schoolchildren and applicants. The site contains updated contacts of educational centers, basic schools for distance education, vocational schools, all roadmaps for admission. Registration is NOT NEEDED! Since the beginning of 2018, the Available Education website has 67,536 visitors and 270,000 views.

https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/29546968.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57GcxLPqWCs

More information: dostupnaosvita.com.ua

Monitoring of media coverage of the press conference with the participation of the Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to Ukraine on the topic: “Education for everyone! The innovative project for local communities in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts”

Black Sea TV and Radio Company

TV airtime: https://tinyurl.com/ybu8hebw

Post with a link to the YouTube channel - https://tinyurl.com/ybq5ls3t

“Radio Svoboda” - “Education for everyone!”: The project of distance learning is implemented in Donbas. Video instruction “Secondary education for children of the East…” - https://tinyurl.com/y8ekgnes  

Ukrainian National Information Agency “Ukrinform” - information is available in the Main news feed:

- Video broadcasting - https://tinyurl.com/ybnauvsm  

- Article with a link to the video broadcast (YouTube channel) - https://tinyurl.com/y8d33za4  

- Article with reference to the video “Education for everyone! The innovative project for local communities of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts” and video - https://tinyurl.com/ybuqkma4  

Video News: Video Broadcasting - https://tinyurl.com/y7bdvwvu  

“Ukraine in shot”: Video broadcasting - https://tinyurl.com/yboe68uu

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine: https://tinyurl.com/y73264pc

Video broadcast of the press conference on the YouTube Channel of the Open Policy Foundation: https://tinyurl.com/ydhlapbq

Luhansk Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education: https://tinyurl.com/ycdf2fao

The Embassy of the Lithuanian Republic in Ukraine: a repost of the post from the Open Policy Foundation Facebook page - https://tinyurl.com/ydaxawl5

UA: Radio Ukraine, the program “Life without the contact line”: http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/

Placing on the Luhansk and Donetsk sites:

Donetsk: https://tinyurl.com/y74oz6jd

Luhansk: https://tinyurl.com/yakhdg87

Radio station “Voice of Donbas”: https://www.uadonbas.com/live