November 5, 2025
News
Constant danger, stress, and lack of shelters in schools deprive children in frontline communities of quality education and communication with their peers. At the same time, teachers are losing motivation to remain in the profession. Discover how we managed to establish psychological support and safe, comprehensive development for schoolchildren and teachers in several affected communities in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Catch-up classes built on safety and support
The city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region is located less than 5 km from the combat zone. Аccording to the city council, there are still around 9,000 schoolchildren here. Due to the danger, children have been educated online for more than 3 years. In addition, shelling and unstable internet make e-learning difficult. The situation is the same in the frontline village of Mykolaivka, where almost 500 students of the local lyceum are staying.
Both parents and teachers say that remote study and prolonged stress are causing students to fall further behind in the school curriculum, while uncertainty is reducing their motivation to overcome academic challenges.
“I am lucky: our school offers additional lessons in my favourite subjects,” Amira shares happily. She is in the eighth grade at Mykolaivka Lyceum. Caritas Czech Republic, in partnership with the Rokada Charitable Foundation, has organised additional offline classes in the Ukrainian language and mathematics for grades 5-9 at Gymnasium No. 18 in Nikopol, as well as at lyceums in Mykolaivka and Chaplynka.
“We aim to help teachers and children near the front line to catch up on the educational losses caused by the war. Thanks to the additional classes, students have the opportunity to fill in the gaps in core subjects without being assessed, in a friendly atmosphere,” says Jana Markiv, project manager at Caritas Czech Republic in Ukraine.
During catch-up classes, teachers do not mark students' work; instead, they conduct tests to determine which topics need extra attention. In the summer, children attended classes in shelters. In October, as part of the project, we renovated and furnished two safe educational spaces in Nikopol and Mykolaivka. We also provided educational kits and equipment.
“With the opening of this space, I finally finished being a ‘home tutor.’ I see that my daughter has become less stressed, and the teachers are really filling in the gaps caused by remote study and air strikes. It’s a great relief,” shares Anastasia, mother of a 9th-grade student at the Mykolaiv Lyceum.
According to Ukrainian language teacher Olga Svitka, children not only welcome the new educational format but also actively help each other.
"They especially like interactive exercises, when we study complex linguistic topics with vivid visual aids and modern approaches. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to help children study in such a difficult time," says Olga.
In our safe spaces, children also attend workshops and finally interact with their friends in person. In addition, a psychologist helps them cope with emotional pressure.
Helping children through their teachers
In addition to extra classes for students, our project also includes training sessions and psychological counselling for teachers. Teachers have regular consultations with a psychologist to prevent emotional burnout and help them cope with stress.
“I am now able to work with students in a feedback mode and can quickly diagnose at which stage they have 'dropped out' without wasting time repeating the entire course. This makes teaching mathematics much more effective and less stressful,” shared Olena Kostina, a mathematics teacher.
More than 200 students and 70 teachers have already benefited from the educational assistance. Nearly 1,000 children received our kits, including thermo mugs, power banks, and motivational stickers.
By the end of the year, we plan to continue additional classes and set up several more safe educational spaces in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The project is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and in cooperation with the Rokada Charitable Foundation.
Caritas Czech Republic in Ukraine
Caritas Czech Republic has been helping Ukrainians since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In addition to much-needed humanitarian aid, we are also improving living conditions in dormitories in western Ukraine. We also support the most vulnerable internally displaced persons settled in western Ukraine by providing study and business grants to help them restore their sources of income.
In eastern Ukraine, we improve the accessibility and quality of rehabilitation and reproductive medicine by modernising hospitals and educating staff. In addition, we are helping the most vulnerable groups in frontline communities to winterise their homes.
Our team is providing major repairs and refurbishment of Mental Health Centres in 4 regions: Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, and Dnipro.
Near the front line in the south, we are restoring access to medical services and drinking water.
