Kushuhum is a village on the banks of the Dnipro River, located south of Zaporizhzhia. It is only 30 kilometers from the front line. It is there that the Intellect Gymnasium is located, which participates in the Terre des Hommes Foundation's Preparing Schools for Social Cohesion project.
There are 34 IDP children studying at the gymnasium. It was only this year that students finally switched from online to blended learning. Due to the quarantine and full-scale war, teachers have not seen their students for almost four years. New challenges for educators required new methods.
As part of the project, the gymnasium has already set up a playroom, a child-friendly space. It is equipped with everything necessary for psychosocial activities. Tdh trainers taught teachers how to conduct various games and activities based on the Movement, Games, Sports and Creativity (MGSC) methodology aimed at comprehensive support for children. The teachers also received skills in first aid, recognizing signs of stress, and mastered non-violent communication.
"We are in such a geographical situation that at any moment any of us can witness or even participate in a crisis event. In addition, our gymnasium is a reception center in case of a radiation release in Enerhodar. The city is about two hours away from us. Therefore, being prepared for different situations is a very necessary skill for us," says Maria Yudina, Deputy Director for Educational Work.
In today's realities, being a teacher is not just about imparting knowledge. It also means being a support for children and their parents. Maria Yudina and Olena Drachova are proving this by their own example at the Kushugum Gymnasium "Intellect". After receiving training from Tdh, they conducted trainings on non-violent communication for their colleagues. And now they have begun to gather parents of schoolchildren for classes.
"On January 24, we held our first training for parents. We studied different communication strategies. We learned to communicate effectively, without violence. We learned to hear our own and other people's needs. We have already tried these techniques on ourselves, so we are happy to share our knowledge," said Maria Yudina.
At the end of January and throughout February, such trainings for parents are planned in all educational institutions participating in the project "Preparing Schools for Social Cohesion". These are 33 schools in Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Odesa regions. Each of them has 80 participants. This means 2,640 people who will learn the skills of psychological assistance and constructive communication. A big step towards a healthy and strong society!
The project "Preparing Schools for Social Cohesion" is implemented by the Terre des Hommes Foundation in Ukraine with the support of the EU4ResilientRegions - Special Assistance to Ukraine project, implemented by the German Federal Company Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Government.
