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On August 28, ‘Education for Non-Government Controlled Areas’ press conference was held in Ukrinform National News Agency of Ukraine. Participants: Iryna ZHDANOVA – head of the NGO Open Policy Foundation, founder of the International Green School, coordinator of the Civil platform for reforming the scientific sphere in Ukraine; students of the Universities, who entered them under the simplified procedure through Donbas-Ukraine Educational Centers of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (via Skype).

During the event, preliminary results of the university admission campaign, the results of work of the Open Policy Foundation's Hotline, as well as education needs, challenges, strategic priorities and specific decisions to provide quality education to war-affected citizens were presented.

At the same time, as the first bell rings this year, the Open Policy Foundation's Hotline on education issues will stop working. This is the only national call center for education as a whole. In the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, the hotline does not operate during the year. It works only during the university admission campaign for the last 4 years together with the Open Policy Foundation. And this is the sole hotline that provides consultation on education to our citizens, who have suffered from the war. For 4 years of work more than 41 thousand calls were received. More than 6 thousand of them were from the East of Ukraine and more than 1,5 thousand of them were from the Crimea.

The record number of calls from the East of Ukraine were received this year during the university admission campaign. For 1,5 months, this is more than 1.5 thousand calls to the Open Policy Foundation Hotline, that worked in partnership with the Ministry of Education of Ukraine with the UNICEF support.  This is three times as many as last year.

Since 2016, it was funded by the UNICEF, and for 3 months this year, when funding was terminated, it was working with the support of the US Agency for International Development. Since March, hotlines were launched in education departments in Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk. At the same time, as statistics shows, they receive only about 15 % of calls.

The organizers appealed to policy makers, new Government and partners of the Ukraine Education Cluster not to destroy the achievements and to amend the regulatory legal acts that will enable work of the national hotline, and at the same time, to find an opportunity to continue its operation after September 01.

Donbas-Ukraine and the Crimea-Ukraine Educational Centers, hotline, information campaign, distance education - are successful projects to be taken to a new level by the new Government jointly with civil society and business. This year, the Open Policy Foundation, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine, developed and distributed more than 35 thousand copies of printed materials at checkpoints, in Ukrzaliznytsya. This year, videos were broadcast on 588 Ukrzaliznytsya monitors, posters were placed in 69 trains, 966 wagons. Since March, banners and step-by-step instructions were placed jointly with the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine at all checkpoints. Web-site “Dostupna Osvita” (Available Education) - https://dostupnaosvita.com.ua/ was updated with a google map with contacts of Educational Centers and schools on distance education, video-lessons available without any registration, with accumulated information on education.

Military operations and lack of effective cooperation among different branches of Government for decision-making remain key challenges. The organizers believe, the new Government and new concepts will be formed in due course. It is important not to lose achievements, but to create the Interdepartmental Commission in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the participation of the central authorities of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, the Ministry of Information Policy, the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia, the Members of Parliament, the Members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, key experts of civil society. There should be the strategy and the National Government Program to provide access to education for citizens affected by the war in the East of Ukraine and the Crimea annexation. However, the main thing to do is to activate horizontal networking and informal communications.

The press conference highlighted the position of the Open Policy Foundation on the Strategy of the Ukraine Education Cluster for the upcoming 5 years and Humanitarian Needs 2020 (the UN OCHA).

To ensure effective distance education and informal education for young people, it is necessary to bring fiber-optic cable internet to every school and every youth center in the East. Every year, the number of distance learning students and students who pass examinations without attending lectures, increases. According to information of the Department of Education of Luhansk Oblast, 817 students study on the external education form and 251 students study on the distance education form. This number in Donetsk Oblast exceeds three times. It is necessary to build a new tower to provide high-speed fiber-optic internet, conduct a high-quality survey of needs, and develop and pilot a model of a school providing distance learning services. It is important to continue to train teachers and educate parents so that they can master distance learning tools such as smartphones, know and be able to work with user-friendly platforms, apps (such as WhatsApp); it is also important to bring more fun and games in education space, as well as make it attractive for modern students. What is more, quality programs fostering emotional intelligence (missing nowadays) must be developed. The Regulation on Teachers Education, adopted on August 21, envisage teachers trainings to be conducted not only by state institutions such as institutes of postgraduate teachers education, but also by public organizations. The Open Policy Foundation started these activities 3 years ago. Under the auspices of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Ukraine and the USAID more than 100 teachers were trained based on the International Green School. Needless to mention other effective civil society initiatives such as EdERA, Education, etc.

Except distance education, we offer to update education documents, obtaining state documents on education by residents from NGCA, contact line (CL) through Donbas-Ukraine, the Crimea-Ukraine Educational Centers. According to the Ukraine Education Cluster of the United Nations, 120 000 school graduates on the NGCAs in 2019 require recognition of education documents, in 2018, there were 99,000 children who require recognition of education documents. At the same time, only 5 percent of graduates enter education institutions of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and other countries. According to the Department of Education of Luhansk Oblast, 735 applicants from the NGCAs, CL of Luhansk region submitted documents to education institutions. To overcome obstacles related to inability to qualitatively prepare for the State Final Examination (SFE), the External Independent Testing (EIT) on the Ukrainian Language, Literature and History of Ukraine, it is necessary to amend the Law ‘On Higher Education’ and to open preparatory departments with state-guaranteed orders. Those young people who want to get Ukrainian education must have access to it. At the same time, the state standard of education should be uniform for all applicants.

Information campaign should be systematic throughout the year at national and local levels. The national hotline should not be closed, but expanded, brought to the next level and work. Non-standard solutions are required (network of bloggers, ambassadors, information mobile teams in areas across the contact line, etc.).

The system to cover costs of transfer, hostels (cash / vouchers) for the period of submission of annual testing, admission campaign should start its work.

Innovative open hubs for young people: must done! According to Iryna ZHDANOVA, ‘Innovative offices should operate not only in Kyiv, Lviv, Jerusalem, but also in Myrnohrad, Starobilsk, Avdiivka, Verkhnotoretskyi. IT -business is operating without borders, and it is an industry that is rapidly developing in Ukraine and provides a guaranteed job for a young person’. Securing a job in the labor market 2020-2030 is impossible without innovative education and soft skills. The Open Policy Foundation offers to build a model of the innovative GREEN STREAM hub in areas across the contact line, on the basis of a school / vocation school / youth center / university / college in the local community. This is an open education space with integrated STEM / STREAM training and occupational guidance, with employers, with a mixed form of education (formal and informal education). Building peace and security can begin with a ceasefire and development of innovations among young people. The United Nations Program ‘Youth. Peace. Innovation’ should start operating in Ukraine as soon as possible. Working with the students who entered the university through the Educational Centers (more than 5,000 students as of today) is an important area of peace building.   

Youth mobility and proactive position, camps in different regions with participation of children from the occupied territories and areas across the contact line. The experience of the International Green School in the Carpathians convincingly proves the effectiveness of reasonable rest for families, children affected by war and peaceful territories. Watching the starry sky in telescopes, discussions next to the fire, hiking in the mountains, and communicating with scientists and artists create a space in which it is not only silent, audible shots are not heard, but also an informal creative space of trust. Programs should be developed and a network of abovementioned camps created, where there is a reasonable rest.

Looking for non-standard creative solutions, including solutions aimed at generational dialogue in local communities is a must. Children, young people can help elderly people. After all, they are extremely lonely and their humanitarian needs are not only associated with water, warm clothing and coal in the winter. Loneliness is the biggest challenge when there are explosions around. Therefore, the Open Policy Foundation proposes to the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund to support activities including organization of family festivals in towns and villages, scientific weekends/ festivals for the whole family, family centers at schools, youth centers, family media studios. 

After presentation of education needs Iryna ZhDANOVA summed up: “I do not believe in effectiveness of peace building in the space of VIP-hotels at polished tables. I believe in effectiveness of innovative education and active, open, informal, horizontal communications. It's a process - for decades. I urge everyone on whom decision-making depends not to destroy our endeavors and achievements. We should unite efforts and increase synergy”.

The 1st year students who entered the Ukrainian Universities through Donbas-Ukraine Educational Centers and teachers also spoke at the press conference.

‘This year we witness an increased number of entrants through the Educational Center. 177 people applied to our Donbas-Ukraine Educational Center, and 113 have already become students of our university. Last year, there were fewer students - 95. But in September we are waiting for entrants, and for the possibility to change the contract form of education to the budget one by those students who have already entered the university’- Viacheslav Kudlai, Head of Donbas-Ukraine Educational Center of Mariupol State University  

‘My name is Gunel, I graduated from school №54 by passing examinations without attending lectures and completed the External Independent Testing (EIT), but I decided to enter the university with the help of the Educational Center and became the student of the budget form immediately. I entered the Faculty of Philology, I am a future psychologist’, - the 1st year student of Mariupol State University majoring ‘Psychology’, Gunel, the city of Snizhne, Donetsk Oblast

‘I studied remotely at school №29, passed the EIT and decided to enter the university with the help of Donbas-Ukraine Educational Center. I did not enter the budget form immediately and applied for the contract, but then I was granted with a state-funded place. And now I will study in international relations faculty’, - the 1st year student of Mariupol State University, majoring ‘International relations, public communications and regional studies’, Amina, the city of Snizhne, Donetsk Oblast

‘First, I would like to say that I am very grateful for this opportunity to join the Ukrainian university. My history is that I studied in Donetsk, and when I heard about Donbas-Ukraine program – I took my documents and came to enter Mariupol State University- the 1st year student of Mariupol State University majoring ‘History and archeology’, Danylo, the village of Novyi Svit, Donetsk Oblast

‘I am very glad that I came here (ed. - to Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University, relocated to Starobilsk). I really wanted to make it happen and I like my specialty a lot. I will be a graphic designer. I really want to study and work according to the specialty’, - the 1st year student of Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University, Olha, the city of Zugres, Donetsk Oblast

You can find more successful student stories on the Open Policy Foundation's Youtube channel by following the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEDiejha8zy7Mn6OJOx98YdDejtZV0f9Y

During the press conference, the step-by-step instruction / roadmap “Simplified procedure for admission to vocational schools for graduates from NGCA” was presented: https://dostupnaosvita.com.ua/news/zarahuvannya-na-byudzhet-do-ptnz-trivatime-do-1-zhovtnya and the Dostupna Osvita website-dostupnaosvita.com.ua

For more information: http://openpolicy.org.ua/ and https://dostupnaosvita.com.ua/

Full video of the press conference: https://youtu.be/oNwgFPOeirs