EDUCATION TO HEAL UKRAINIAN CHILDREN’S INVISIBLE WAR SCARS

• GPE is helping increase the capacity of Ukraine’s educators to reinforce children’s psychosocial resilience. 
• More than 60,000 education professionals, including teachers, principals and school psychologists, are trained in psychosocial support and school safety. 

Since 2022, the war in Ukraine has eroded the mental health and well-being of the population, including approximately 5 million school-age children.

“There is no single child that is not affected by the war….61% of parents have reported to us that they have major concerns about their children's mental health and well-being because they are going through trauma. Even one single air alert during the day is enough to trigger anxiety and issues.” - Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Representative to Ukraine

Displacement, violence and disruption of essential services has led to acute and chronic stress, anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, sleep problems, fatigue, irritability or anger among children. 

“If children’s mental health issues are not addressed, they cannot learn and develop to their full potential.”

Danijel Cuturic, Education Programs Coordinator, UNESCO Ukraine

Ensuring that children have access to education during crisis provides a sense of normalcy and social support through communication with peers and educators. However, according to the Ukrainian government, around 2,000 schools remain damaged or destroyed since the Russian invasion. 

Approximately 1.2 million students are accessing education online or through a blended format of online and in-person learning, relying on technology to stay connected with peers and educators.

"During the whole occupation, I have dreamed of studying because I was tired of just sitting at home and doing nothing. I did a little bit of research on the Internet, saw the subjects, tried to understand them by myself, but self-study was quite difficult. The most difficult thing was to keep your spirits up, because it was psychologically pressuring, very pressuring." - Ivan Vasiliev, grade 11 student, Snihurivka Lyceum, Mykolaiv region

Recognizing the critical need to support children through this difficult time, Ukraine has prioritized mental health within the education sector. As part of the National Program for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support led by Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s First Lady, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is working with partners to develop policies, protocols and tools to provide students with the mental support they need.

One intervention includes training teams made up of school principals, teachers, school psychologists, security professionals, parents and caregivers across eight war-affected regions on school safety, psychosocial support and socioemotional learning. 

"I have children in my class whose parents are soldiers. Some are waiting for their father or mother to call, some are waiting for both parents to call. These children need a lot of attention, support and help from teachers. We are an authority in the eyes of children, and we must be able to provide psychological help to them." - Alyona Kolisnyk, primary school teacher, Balta Lyceum No. 2, Odesa region

"Before the war, we thought that we needed at least one professional in each school, like a psychologist. Right now, I think that all the teachers in Ukraine should have some level of experience in mental health support for their children because there are so many of them who need support from their teachers." - Dmytro Zavgorodnii, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Education and Science

The training is one of several interventions that was made possible thanks to a GPE Multiplier grant of US$25.5 million, which matched a total of over $25 million in cash and in-kind from Microsoft, Google and UNESCO, totaling more than $51 million in education assistance for Ukraine. The funding helps the Ministry of Education and Science provide distance learning, psychosocial support, catch-up education and other activities that are being implemented by UNESCO and UNICEF for children in conflict-affected areas.

A new GPE grant of $2.7 million, managed by the World Bank, aims to strengthen the Ministry of Education and Science's capacity to address the impact of war on students and their learning, support sector planning and implement reforms.

• Snihurivka Lyceum
• Interview with Ivan Vasiliev, 11^th grade: During the whole occupation, I dreamed of studying because I was tired of just sitting at home and doing nothing. I did a little bit of research on the Internet, saw the subjects, tried to understand them myself, but self-study was quite difficult. The most difficult thing was to keep your spirits up, because they all were psychologically pressuring. 
• Interview with Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF: There is no single child that is not affected by the war and it first and foremost mental health and psychosocial support related concerns. 61% parents of parents have reported to us that they have major concerns about their children's mental health and well-being because they are going through trauma, even one single alert—air alert—during the day is enough to trigger anxiety and issues. 
• Interview with Iryna Vradiy, 10th grade At the beginning of the summer, my class teacher informed us about the opening of this center. When I came here, I saw, first of all, an incredible renovation. When I saw the school gradually falling apart during the occupation, it was such a delight for me to see it finally coming to life. For me, distance learning is actually self-study. And, of course, you go to school, and the teacher will explain everything to you there, and he can see by his eyes that you don't understand something, and he will explain it even more.
• Children in a Digital Learning Center
• Children in a Digital Learning Center children play board games 
• Interview with Vasilisa Sakun, 6^th grade: I have a lot of fun here, I have friends. I somehow became a few points better at some things in class and in general, and I liked this center. I miss the center because I don't come here that often, my mom doesn't let me go because of air alerts, the bombings, so I miss it. Today I learned how to play badminton in physical education, so I learned a lot, I learned about the Cossacks in history class, I learned so much here that I can't remember.
• Interview with Alyona Kolisnyk, primary school teacher of Balta lyceum No. 2: I have children in my class whose parents are in the military. Some of them are waiting for their father to call, some are waiting for their mother to call, and some are waiting for both parents to call. These children are now living with their grandparents, and they need a lot of attention, support and help from the teacher, because we are an authority in the eyes of children and we must be able to provide this psychological help to children. In order to learn, a child needs to feel comfortable; if they are stressed, if they are emotionally unbalanced, if they do not have a confident adult by their side, they cannot learn, no matter how safe the physical space we create. That is why our programme focuses on psychosocial support and the ability of teachers to provide it.
• School teachers from Balta, Odesa Oblast, take part in a ‘Creating a safe educational environment’ training
• Interview with Danijel Cuturic, Senior Project Coordinator, UNESCO Desk in Ukraine: When we started designing this project, we went to schools to talk to parents, teachers, local authorities, and it was very clear that for them, the primary objective is physical safety, this is a precondition to save people's lives. But then, when we continued talking, it was clear that something else was missing and this is mental health, which needs to be addressed as well. Just imagine the situation in which children have to worry every day if their father will return from the front line, if they will have to move and evacuate next day, if their friends will be in the school next day, and they think about this every day. This is stress. This is what we call toxic stress. And for this toxic stress, children cannot develop their emotional well-being, psychological well-being, cognitive and behavioral. So through this project, it's very important for us to address both physical safety and psychological and mental safety.
• Interview with Tatiana Savchuk, practical psychologist at Balta Lyceum No.1: I try to approach the child with understanding, I try to communicate, because very often, children simply have no one to talk to, just to tell them what is bothering them. And it is in this conversation that children can open up, they can encourage me to work with them further, and then we find some common solutions. The main thing is our stress resistance. And I offer them various exercises, such as breathing exercises, muscle tension relief, exercises that help children to distract themselves. And I use these exercises as basic ones, without any objects or resources. In other words, it is our hands, our thoughts, our self-hypnosis that help children cope with states of tension and aggression that they may experience.
• Interview with Dmytro Zavgorodnii, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine: We need to work right now with all the teachers in Ukraine. I think with the parents also for these adults also to become trained to know how to deal with the circumstances of the war, how to work with their children in more professional way. Because before the war, maybe this was an outlier, and we thought that we need at least one professional in each school, like a psychologist, who can support those children who need this. Right now, I think that all the teachers in Ukraine should have some level of experience in mental support for their children, because there are so many of them who need the support from their teachers. Because of the Google and Microsoft huge donation in 2022, we were able to unlock a big fund, the so-called GPE Multiplier, which enabled us to have several components of the support for digital transformation, but also for the mental health support, catch-up education and other activities that are being implemented by UNESCO and UNICEF.