The Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) have agreed to work together to implement two school rehabilitation projects – ECHO4SCHOOLS-UA and “Rebuilding Schools in Ukraine,” the Press Service of the Ministry of Rehabilitation reported.
Within the framework of these projects, implemented with the assistance of First Lady Elena Zelenskaya, it is planned to repair and modernize more than 100 schools in 14 regions of Ukraine.
“Thanks to the partners from the UN Development Program and UNOPS for their cooperation and willingness to work promptly so that the start of the new school year for many Ukrainians was not disrupted. We only expect to deepen our cooperation. Restoring and equipping the educational infrastructure is one of the necessary conditions for the Ukrainians to return home,” the statement said.
“I would like to express special gratitude to the European Commission, which has allocated 100 million euros for the reconstruction and modernization of schools, including in the framework of the above projects,” the release quoted Deputy Prime Minister for the reconstruction of Ukraine – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that a special emphasis in both projects is placed on improving infrastructure security, in particular through the repair and necessary equipping of bomb shelters.
The project “ECHO4SCHOOLS-UA: Repair / modernization of schools in war-stricken regions” with a budget of about 14 million euros is implemented by UNDP and aims at carrying out current repairs of at least 50 schools in 10 regions of Ukraine. Now preparations are underway for tenders for the first repairs. In the future, there are plans to increase the number of schools being repaired to over a hundred.
The second project: “Reconstruction of schools in Ukraine” – is realized by UNOPS, its budget amounts to 20 million euros. It includes current repairs of schools in four regions: in Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv.
It has already been selected and agreed upon 54 schools in need of rehabilitation. Documentation for tender procedures is already being prepared for 8 facilities. Thanks to the implementation of the project more than 20 thousand children will be able to start the new school year in decent conditions.
The German federal government is allocating 5 million euros to support a project to repair war-damaged schools in Ukraine, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine reports.
“The UNDP-coordinated project will promote sustainability and green recovery through the repair and modernization of damaged educational institutions in war-affected territories as part of the UNDP Resilience and Recovery Programme. The first sites where repairs will be funded were selected from a list of 74 schools located in 12 cities that are in urgent need of repair work. The list was compiled by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine”, – stated in the message.
The financial contribution of the German government will be distributed among 12 schools in five regions – Zaporizhzhia, Mykolayiv, Rivne, Sumy and Chernihiv. Thus, more than 3 thousand students will be able to resume their education.
In the course of repair work, the Eurocode 8 standard, which applies to the design and construction of structures and other construction work in seismic areas, will be applied. There will also be a unified approach to the repair and modernization of existing buildings. The use of hazardous building materials (e.g., asbestos, sealants containing persistent organic pollutants) will be prohibited, the use of environmentally friendly furniture and equipment will be encouraged (e.g., LED lights instead of fluorescent lamps containing mercury). In addition, a key part of the initial design task and part of the requirements for the selection of the design team and developers will be the criteria of architectural accessibility.
“The UNDP team has already begun inspecting each building and assessing specific rehabilitation needs. The accelerated procurement procedure will allow identifying a group of companies to carry out repairs that will be carried out in full compliance with national legislation and Eurocode 8 standards, while respecting Build Back Better principles,” said UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine Jaco Silje, noting that institutions that have suffered minor or partial damage will be repaired and modernized.
German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen said it is important to invest in Ukraine’s future and in the sustainability of its children and teachers.
“Eventually these children will live in this great country and rebuild it for the better. But they need schools to teach them and teachers to show them the way. We also need to make sure that school buildings are safe places to learn in terms of environmental standards,” she stressed.
Finnish telecommunications equipment manufacturer Nokia will increase the number of routers provided to Ukraine to equip schools to 5 thousand routers, said Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov after a meeting with Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark in Davos.
“After February 24, we received 1,770 routers from Nokia, which provide Internet for school shelters. A second batch of 3,230 more routers will arrive soon. They will allow tens of thousands of children to safely continue learning in school shelters during air raids,” Fedorov wrote in his telegram feed Friday.
Also among future projects, he said, is the construction of an Internet backbone line across the Black Sea.
“This will make Ukraine more attractive to top technology companies such as Amazon and Meta,” the deputy prime minister said.
He added that Nokia’s CEO also suggested creating a local group of experts to advise on the restoration, sustainability and modernization of Ukraine’s digital infrastructure.
The Ministry of Education and Science recommends that schools create flexible schedules for the educational process that will correlate with power outage schedules, First Deputy Minister Andriy Vitrenko said.
“As for secondary education applicants, we advise teaching staff to create flexible schedules for the educational process, which will correlate with the schedules of power cuts in a particular educational institution. That’s the only solution that exists today,” he said at a briefing on Tuesday.
According to him, such recommendations also apply to other levels of education in the country.
Vitrenko noted that with this approach it is possible to use both synchronous and asynchronous training.
In addition, the department is working on various mechanisms to implement the possibility for children, when they have electricity, to download on their gadgets benchmark lessons for study.
During an online communication with the US university community, President Volodymyr Zelensky invited scientists to join the program to restore schools and universities in Ukraine, the press service of the President’s Office reported on Monday.
As the head of state said, a big plan for the restoration of Ukraine is being developed, which, in particular, provides for the restoration of schools, universities, institutes and other educational institutions.
“Thousands of educational institutions have been destroyed. For us, this is a great tragedy. Therefore, we will only be grateful to you if we have such restoration projects at the level of ministries of education, the level of educational programs, the level of universities,” the president said.
“When we talk about resumption, it is not only a question of money, but also of specialists. Because we can build some kind of institute, university, but it is very important that there are people who are carriers of knowledge and specialists. Therefore, we are ready for such joint work and will be very grateful if you help us develop new educational programs,” he added.
Zelensky stressed that the plan for the restoration of Ukraine provides for programs for the restoration of various sectors of the economy and public life.
“We are forming partnerships with this or that institution, with this or that state. We even have patronage. We already have several examples. I know that the United States will choose for itself a suitable region for the restoration of our country, Canada, European states,” the President said.
For the first time in history, the head of the Ukrainian state addressed the students and leaders of major universities under the auspices of the American Association of Universities. Representatives of about fifty institutions joined the meeting, including Yale University, Harvard University, Boston University, Duke University, Cornell University, Brown University. About 5.5 thousand students watched the live broadcast on campuses, the press service reports.
The Ministry of Education and Science says that Ukrainian students abroad prefer online education in their native schools.
“Ukrainian students abroad prefer online education in their native schools. Also, the children want to complete the school year with their teachers and according to the Ukrainian educational program,” Shkarlet is quoted by the press service of the ministry.
It is noted that the Ministry of Education and the State Service for the Quality of Education are trying to facilitate schoolchildren’s access to curricula implemented by educational institutions and Ukrainian educational online resources.
