HomeIn 2022, "School of Superheroes" conducted more than 3,500 hours of classes and 360 hours of psychological support by the school's practical psychologists.
"We are proud that despite the war, schools are working - in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Kharkiv.
The war showed how necessary, often life-giving, education in hospitals is for children.
We are asked to open and launch new educational spaces, so we continue to work!
I believe and know that we can do more - says the curator of the School of Superheroes and the Right to Education project, 1+1 TV presenter Natalia Moseichuk.
- It's about knowledge, psychological support, kind hearts and faith in the future, where we will win."
In 2019, a large team of volunteers and like-minded people presented the first social franchise in Ukraine and began to open "School of Superheroes" educational centers in the largest children's hospitals.
At the end of 2021 - they received the status of a state institution, and despite the war, financing is carried out at the expense of the state.
Currently, there are 8 such educational spaces in Ukraine.
In a few months, we are expecting two renovated spaces in the educational centers of the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv and the St. Nicholas Hospital in Lviv.
The pioneers in the construction of hospital schools were the regional and city children's hospitals of Zhytomyr.
In this article, we talk about how training helped young patients get rid of serious illnesses and stress.
Minus depression, plus ZNO
Eight-year-old Sofiyka was admitted to Zhytomyr Children's Hospital named after Bashek in a state of deep depression.
The girl was focused on her poor physical condition.
Due to her depressed psychological state, the treatment did not have the desired effect.
The situation changed after her parents and doctors persuaded Sofiyka to go to the "Superhero School" located in the hospital.
Because she "didn't want to", she came to the first lesson, then the second, the third... And after a while, the girl started to smile and go to classes on her own initiative.
With the change in her emotional state, her health indicators soon improved, and the treatment began to work, and after some time Sofiyka was discharged from the hospital.
Due to the fact that the child switched from bad thoughts to learning, it also had a therapeutic effect and the girl got rid of depression, which interfered with her treatment.
The story of Yura, a graduate, who, after being hospitalized for a long time, thanks to individual classes with the teachers of the School of Superheroes, did not lag behind the school program is also illustrative.
Even when, after being discharged from the hospital, the boy was at home undergoing rehabilitation, he continued to study remotely with the teachers of the School of Superheroes.
After completing his studies and treatment, Yura passed the external examination with flying colors and entered the Zhytomyr Polytechnic University.
These are just the stories of two of the 1,136 children who have studied at the "School of Superheroes" of the Zhytomyr City Children's Hospital in three years.
The reverse side of dry statistics are the stories of thousands of children who were helped by education in treatment and in mastering new knowledge and experience that will be useful in life.
"Scientifically proven: the more positive emotions we feel, the faster the recovery process will be.
Sadness, fear, depression, confusion... These are emotions that are usually experienced by children who have been admitted to a medical institution for treatment.
That is why they need to have a space where they can communicate with their peers, learn something new, get positive emotions and, at least for a certain period of time, be distracted", - explains the therapeutic effect of education, psychologist Anastasia Baranivska.
The curator of "School of Superheroes" Nataliya Moseychuk emphasizes that during the war, training at hospitals became an important psychological support.
Educators, teachers and psychologists work with children.
To teach, to support, and to give hope.
"The children are fighting on several fronts at once.
Educators, breeders and psychologists, parents, doctors are their reliable rear.
Everyone courageously withstands the challenges of time and moves forward.
My team and I are not stopping and now we are paying special attention to the psychological support of children," Nataliya Moseychuk shared.
Volunteers + authorities + doctors = "School of Superheroes"
Scaling up of the project started almost five years ago.
The entire country contributed to the opening of the first "School of Superheroes" in Okhmatdyt - funds collected during the "Breakfast with 1+1" charity marathon were transferred to the launch.
Since then, a large team of like-minded people - the "Right to Education" project and its curator Nataliya Moseychuk, the NGO "Little Heart with Art", TSN, teachers from Lviv and Kyiv, doctors, experts from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Health have been working towards their goal - to open schools at hospitals and it happened at the state level, not on the shoulders of volunteers.
"We wanted to create a world-class project for scaling in Ukraine.
It describes all processes and standards in great detail.
Just as they do in large multinational corporations, where the approach and quality are the same in any corner of the world.
After the presentation, some people hinted to us that it was too cool for a country in which the war continues and crises follow one another.
And after that cold shower of skepticism, representatives of the Zhytomyr region and the city of Zhytomyr turned to us with a proposal to implement a franchise in two hospitals.
And when two chic schools opened in a short period of time, we realized that our dream is real and nothing will stop us on the way to its realization", - says the director of the School of Superheroes, Yevgenia Smirnova.
Today, there are two "School of Superheroes" educational centers in regional and city children's hospitals, which are among the best in Ukraine.
"When we review the reports of the project, we understand that it was opened for a reason.
We are happy and understand that this is very important for Zhytomyr.
After all, this is the first school in Zhytomyr where hospitalized children have the opportunity to exercise their right to education.
This is especially important for children who are temporarily removed from their families," says the Deputy Mayor of Zhytomyr, Maria Misurova.
"For a child with a diagnosis that calls into question his health and life, it is important that elements of understandable daily behavior remain.
Learning is an integral part of every child's life, its everyday life.
In hospital conditions, it distracts from the illness and the living conditions in which the child finds himself, helps to reduce the level of stress by setting clear daily tasks," says Mykola Denisenko, the head of the educational center of the "School of Superheroes" DU in the Zhytomyr Regional Children's Hospital.
Three years of force majeure
"Schools of Superheroes" in Zhytomyr opened at the end of 2019, right before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
After two years of quarantine restrictions, a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
But the educational centers did not stop their work, on the contrary, they quickly adapted to new challenges and conditions - distance learning, conducting classes in shelters and psychological rehabilitation of children who had a traumatic war experience.
"With the beginning of the war, the work of the "School of Superheroes" changed.
Frequent air alarms distract children from the normal rhythm of life, especially in the hospital.
But we, and in the shelter, continue the lessons so that the children spend their time with benefit.
Our task, as rehabilitators of the educational center, is to provide them with knowledge so that it is first of all interesting for them, so that it contributes to their faster recovery," says the head of the "Superhero School" of the Zhytomyr City Children's Hospital, Viktoriya Mykhaylenko.
One by one, "Schools of Superheroes" continued to open in large hospitals of Dnipro, Kharkiv and Kherson.
From 2022, the "School of Superheroes" received the status of a state institution, and despite the war, the project continues to develop throughout the country.
Soon, in 2023, two new educational spaces are planned to open.
At the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv and at the Saint Nicholas Hospital in Lviv.
"Currently, we are advocating the school development budget before the parliamentarians and we hope that our arguments will be reflected in an increase in the funding of educational centers.
In addition, we do not stop and work not only on the opening of new schools, but also on the development of new directions, such as preschool education in hospitals.
The war does not stop us, on the contrary, it forces us to move forward to achieve new goals", - said the director of the School of Superheroes, Yevgenia Smirnova.
Read also:
"During the war, teachers must have the skills of crisis psychological assistance" - psychologist Olena Anoprienko
"Thank you, Aunt Dasho, my dream has come true": the teacher of the "School of Superheroes" talked about studying in hospitals
"Pity does not bring back life and does not motivate": the teacher of the "School of Superheroes" on the education of children in hospitals