The European Union supports Ukrainian education and youth. The press tour to Poltava and Oblast highlighted the scale and effectiveness of future-oriented support

On 3-4 December 2024, journalists from national and regional media visited Poltava Oblast to explore the results of the European Union’s programmes and projects in assisting Ukrainian education and young people during the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine. The press tour was organized by the EU Delegation to Ukraine as part of the country-wide communication campaign “Together We Learn & Grow”.

As part of the event, Rémi Duflot, Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Ukraine and Kristina Mikulova, Head of Regional Hub for Eastern Europe at European Investment Bank also visited Poltava.

During the press tour, the participants witnessed how the EU is modernising Ukrainian education at all levels, from preschools to vocational education and training institutions, to universities. This includes efforts to enhance training programmes for new skills, facilitate retraining of specialists in various industries, including construction and agriculture, and provide training opportunities for veterans and internally displaced persons. In order to facilitate the continued education of students, a number of measures are being implemented. These include the construction of shelters, the provision of access to online platforms, and the supply of digital tools, textbooks, and school buses.

Remi Duflot, Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Ukraine:

“The European Union is deeply committed to education and youth, recognising how vital it is for the next generation to have access to learning and be empowered to test its ideas. However, for the past three years, Ukrainian children and educators have endured the hardships of war, facing shelling, blackouts, and immense psychological stress.

It is why, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the EU has stepped up its support for Ukraine’s education and youth, expanding its efforts to meet new needs caused by the war. Since then, the EU has invested over €200 million in Ukraine’s future, which is also our shared future, working closely with international partners to amplify these efforts.

Here, in Poltava and its region, we have seen the benefit of such consolidation, with tangible results making a real difference for children, educators, the youth, and beyond them, their communities.”

The participants visited the Youth Space, which was created on the initiative of the Youth Policy Implementation Unit of the Department of Culture, Youth and Family of Poltava City Council, in collaboration with the staff of the Centre for Culture and Leisure, who participated in the youth ideathon #SOLVE_IT, organised with support from the EU and UNDP.

The press tour also featured a round table at the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”. The university is a participant in the EIB’s “Higher Education of Ukraine” (UHE) project, aiming for energy-efficient modernisation of buildings. The university also implements four modules of the Jean Monnet programme into its educational process, and its students and teachers participate in Erasmus+ programmes. The participants discussed the development of education and inspected the university’s energy-efficient buildings, modernised within the framework of the UHE project.

Guests and journalists also met with the staff of the twice-relocated Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk. This university is one of nine relocated universities that received aid from the European Union.

At Abazivka Secondary School, journalists met with teachers participating in the eTwinning programme and schoolchildren involved in the projects. The European Commission launched the eTwinning programme in 2005 as a platform for the community of educators and the development of cooperation in the professional sphere. Today, it unites teachers from 46 countries in Europe and the world. In June 2022, the unified European School Education Platform (ESEP) was launched, providing educators with opportunities for international cooperation and professional development, such as implementing joint projects and participating in national and European professional development events and conferences, receiving national and European quality awards, etc.

The journalists and other participants of the press tour then had the opportunity to travel to Reshetylivka, where they visited the Kolos sports complex for children and young people with disabilities, which trains athletes for the Ukrainian national Paralympic and Deaflympic teams. This facility is the result of an initiative and collaboration between the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, the Finance Ministry of Ukraine, the Poltava Oblast State Administration, and the Poltava Oblast Council.

At the Reshetylivka Vocational Agrarian Lyceum named after I.H. Borovenskii, which received equipment and machinery with the support of the EU under the EU4Skills program, journalists spoke with teachers and students and visited the modernised classrooms and technical park. Thanks to the support of the EU programme, training has been improved in the specialities of “Master of Operation, Repair and Maintenance of Agricultural Machinery”, “Mechanic for Repair of Automotive Equipment” and “Mechanic for Repair of Agricultural Machinery and Equipment”.

Overall, the participants saw specific results of the European Union’s systematic support for Ukrainian education and youth during the war on the example of Poltava and oblast. They highlighted the sustainability of EU projects launched before the full-scale invasion, the successful expansion and scaling of these projects despite wartime challenges, and the increasing opportunities created by consistent comprehensive EU assistance. By strengthening support for Ukrainian educational institutions and youth, the European Union focuses on the future, helping Ukraine meet the urgent needs of wartime, preserve its human capital and prepare for European integration and active post-war reconstruction.

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The All-Ukrainian communication campaign “Together We Learn & Grow” launched on September 27, 2024, and will run until January 2025, covering all regions of Ukraine, except for the temporarily occupied territories. The campaign will feature numerous educational events, expert discussions, meetings with representatives and beneficiaries of EU programmes and projects, and press tours.

Media partners are: 1+1, ICTV, and Espresso channels, Ukrainska Pravda. Life publication.

To learn more about the “Together We Learn & Grow” communication campaign and its events, visit eu4ukraine.eu and the pages of the EU Delegation to Ukraine on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.

Contacts:

Tetiana Voronina, media expert, EU Project Communicating EU for Ukrainians (CEU4U), which is being implemented by Ecorys, tvoronina9@gmail.com, +38 067 501 11 83