After six months of conflict, many refugees remain in neighboring countries. In Romania, there were 87,000 in the country in mid-August, according to UNHCR. Arrivals have slowed down a lot and some have taken the way back. While the university town of Cluj has seen the number of refugees drop in recent months, the Ukrainian community has many children. And on the eve of the start of the school year, the institutions are getting organized.
Of the 300 refugees the Unitarian school was assisting in May, about a hundred returned to the Ukraine. But Jolt Elekzes, the pastor of the school, helped by a family from Odessa very active in the community, remains mobilized. Housing, activities and schooling are offered on a WhatsApp group which has around 2,000 subscribers and with the start of the new school year approaching, Jolt Elekes is looking to push the walls.
” We are looking for bigger premises, firstly so that the Ukrainians we educate have their own classes, but also because a large number of refugees from Cluj need to find their way back to school. Many parents thought when they arrived that they would go back to school at home this fall, and that is not the case. “explains the pastor.
Added to this is the fact that before the war, the Covid-19 pandemic had already disrupted schooling for a long time, in Ukraine as elsewhere.
” Catching up at least in part for these three lost years would be great. If we manage to prepare the older ones for entering university, or if we can teach the little ones to read and write, it will be a huge victory for us. “, he assures.
And it is also a way of anticipating aid for the future reconstruction of the country, explains Jolt Elekzes, according to whom the Ukrainian government has also planned to facilitate the integration of students returning from exile, only a test level is required to resume schooling.
►Also read: In Romania, welcoming Ukrainians with open arms