Children at war have not only had their homes, friends and some of their family stripped from their lives, but also their education
Learning has come to a halt as war continues in Ukraine and one Bulgarian firm wants to make a change.
Its providing free access to online learning materials and textbooks for children who have fled Ukraine.
But the Human Rights Watch wants to see more EU companies do the same by offering educational relief to millions of children who have been cut off from schooling due to the war in Ukraine.
Children’s rights and tech researcher at Human Rights Watch says free access to learning material in their own language will provide some relief for distressed children and their parents.
“Efforts like those of Bulgaria’s Yettel will help provide immediate emergency education to children fleeing Ukraine,” said Hye Jung Han, children’s rights and technology researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Offering children free access to familiar textbooks and learning material in their own language will provide some relief for displaced and distressed children and their parents, and temporarily serve as a mobile solution for families fleeing to safety.”
Six weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more than 4.5 million children have been displaced from their homes, with over 2 million kids now refugees due to the ongoing crisis.
While European countries have opened their schools to refugee children, children face the challenges of learning a different curriculum in a new language, near the end of the school year. Free access to Ukrainian educational materials would provide a bridge to such formal education in countries of refuge.
“Past and current humanitarian crises have taught the world that when children lose their access to education, they risk losing their futures,” Han says
“Telecommunications providers can help stop the hemorrhaging of children’s futures, today.”
