Ukrainian Children Flooding Polish Schools
Source: The Economist Newspaper. (n.d.). How Polish schools are coping with an influx of Ukrainian children. The Economist. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/04/04/how-polish-schools-are-coping-with-an-influx-of-ukrainian-children
“How Polish Schools are Coping with an Influx of Ukrainian Children,” published by The Economist, discusses the current effects Polish schools are enduring in response to the massive increase in Ukrainian refugees. As a result of Russian attacks, Poland has become a popular destination country for many Ukrainians. It states that “so far more than 160,000 [Ukrainian children] have registered to attend local schools”, and that they “could eventually have to find room for 700,000” in total (“The Economist”, 2022). Because of the influx of these children, schools are being forced to make room when there isn’t much to work with. While Poland has attempted to make changes to accommodate this massive increase, their schools are losing the ability to place them in their preferred, preparatory classes to start out. This is leading to major language barriers between the teachers, Polish students, and Ukrainian children and is causing major disruptions to their education.
This situation that is taking place in Poland directly correlates to what we have talked about in class in terms of the costs of education. We’ve learned that there are extremely high costs of teaching students that don’t fluently speak the native language of the country they’re in. As a result, this can lead to high opportunity costs of other instruction–the native born students can get crowded out of the original schools they were attending. It seems that that may end up being the case here. At a primary school in Poland, “almost every class has new pupils,” and “some have as many as six” (“The Economist”, 2022). This proves that many students’ education is going to be affected by the influx of Ukrainian children, and as a result, that may cause them to move elsewhere.
4 thoughts on “Ukrainian Children Flooding Polish Schools”
This article reminds me of the Flores twins’ experience in the book ‘The Far Away Brothers’ by Lauren Markham. The boys were thrusted into American life, and they had to pay off their debts while attending school, getting good grades, and learning English. I am sure that these Ukrainian children are having a similarly hard transition. The asylum system process, as well as the education system, in these countries need to go through some reform in order to accommodate these children and help them through this difficult transition.
I can’t imagine having this occur while at school. I remember it being fun to see new students show up; however, I can see it getting very distracting and taking away from my education. Although a high cost of native-born bilingual teachers is in demand, I can also see this reflecting the student’s cultural development. Something that I wish my school had more of when I grew up.
I can relate this article to the last class when we discuss how immigrants can have crowding out effect on natives’ education. I have read one article talking about reasons for Ukrainian refugees not returning to their home country even after the war ends. And according to the number of Ukrainian fleeing to Poland, I believe that they would to a great extent reshape the country’s society and economy with long-lasting effect. On the other hand, it will be challenging for Ukraine to rebuild their economy after experiencing this ‘unusual’ brain drain.
This blog post is very interesting because it pertains to a very relevant situation that is currently happening. I have not really thought about the Ukraine-Russia War in terms of education, so it cool to read about it in this aspect. I wonder with this influx of children attempting to get schooled, if there is more job openings for teachers. I understand that the language barrier is a difficult one to get over, so would it be reasonable to also employ interpreters in the school system?