A platform to help schoolchildren overcome educational gaps and losses called POVIR was presented in Kyiv. The pilot project will run until the end of 2024 and will involve 2,000 students.
This was announced at the presentation of the project by MP, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation Serhiy Koleboshyn, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“This is an online platform, a digital solution to support students who have faced challenges in their studies and are losing motivation on their educational path. Its name is an acronym for Overcoming Educational Losses and Gaps (OELG). Family, school, we hope that a child has these two places where he or she can get help. POVIR is a third, safe space for help and development. Our main idea is that all children can overcome educational losses. And we accompany them so that they are successful both in their studies and in life in general,” Koleboshyn said.
According to the MP, educational losses and gaps are caused by a number of factors, including both the two years of the pandemic and the full-scale war, which brought forced breaks in education, the inability to study due to the destruction of schools, air raids, migration and much more. According to the State Statistics Service, there are more than 4 million school-age children in Ukraine, according to Koleboshyn.
According to him, a pilot project is currently being launched to cover 2,000 students in grades 7, 9, and 11, and will last until the end of 2024. The platform is free for children and their families and is available at the national level. The project website has both Ukrainian and English versions.
During the pilot phase, students can improve three school subjects: mathematics, Ukrainian and English.
The platform provides: free coaching support, educational materials, and life skills development; six short 30-minute meetings (sprints) in mathematics, Ukrainian, and English to help students deal with difficulties in these subjects; progress tracking; and their own educational marathon. After the training, the project participant will receive an international certificate with a list of achievements and further recommendations.
In addition to learning, the project participants are expected to strengthen their stress-resistance, communication, and teamwork skills, develop creative and critical thinking, which will be facilitated by SES teachers (socio-emotional skills). According to Koleboshyn, the learning process on the platform is gamified, and students will be able to “earn” the so-called virtual currency – virkoins, which can be exchanged either for gifts or converted into hryvnias and donated to the Armed Forces or to help those affected by the war.
According to the MP, the POVIR pilot project will be open to students from vulnerable groups, including those whose relatives have died because of the war, children from IDP families, defenders of Ukraine, students living in the de-occupied territories or those where hostilities have been or are ongoing, children who have left Ukraine because of the war, and others.
According to the founders of the project, this sample will allow them to evaluate the effectiveness of the project and, if necessary, adjust the platform to work on a national scale, for all grades and in all subjects.
The POVIR project is implemented by the Ukrainian Institute for Educational Development, NGO “EdCamp Ukraine”, NGO “Smart Education” in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and at the request of the state, namely the Committee on Science, Education and Innovation, the Advisory Council for the Promotion of the General Secondary Education System under the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the All-Ukrainian School Online platform. Support is provided by the International Renaissance Foundation, the United Nations Foundation EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT, the United States Agency for International Development, and the international organisation PACT.
Source: Ukrinform
