On February 17, the team of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Lviv Polytechnic National University, presented the results of a study on the impact of the war on Ukrainian studies schools abroad. The survey was held from November 2022 to January 2023 as part of the Second World Forum of Ukrainian Studies Educational Institutions «The Strength of Ukraine is in Education». The foreign schools teachers from 32 countries took part in the survey. Taras Kremin, the State Language Protection Commissioner, Inna Ohnivets, Head of the Department for Ukrainians Worldwide and Humanitarian Cooperation, and invited experts joined the discussion on the results. The event, dedicated to the International Mother Language Day, was held on the Zoom platform.
In her welcome speech, Iryna Klyuchkovska, the IECDR Director, Honorary Professor of Lviv Polytechnic, outlined the importance of Ukrainian Saturday and Sunday schools and their impact: «More than a hundred years of experience in the functioning of Ukrainian Saturday and Sunday schools is evidenced that the children, who have studied there, are carriers of truthful knowledge about Ukraine abroad. They are, at least, great sympathizers of Ukraine, who at a more mature age will interact with us, as a state, at all possible levels – scientific, business, cultural, political, etc. »
In addition, the director noted that children who will remain in the territories of residence and who already go to foreign schools will quickly assimilate if their interest in Ukraine is not constantly warmed up – by parents and by public organizations. The next steps should be from the Ukrainian state.
Before the research presentation, the leading sociologist of IECDR, Olha Dolinska, briefly commented on the main data of this survey. The research was conducted from November 2022 to January 2023 within the framework of the Second World Forum of Ukrainian Studies Educational Institutions «The Strength of Ukraine is in Education», held in December 2022. An online survey was selected as the method of gathering information, which allowed to involve in the study the foreign schools teachers of Ukrainian studies from many countries. The main basis for the distribution of the online survey was the map of Ukrainian studies educational institutions «Ukrainian Educational Universe», created by IECDR in response to the request of the participants of the First World Forum of Ukrainian Studies Saturday and Sunday Schools, which took place in 2018. In total, it was possible to get 125 answers, which the sociologist analyzed and which are presented now. Finally, Mz. Dolinska called on teachers of Ukrainian studies schools to be more involved in similar projects: «This will allow us in the future to analyze more deeply and broadly the problems and challenges facing Ukrainian studies schools abroad and draw the attention of Ukraine, in particular the authorities, to them».
