Child's assistant: Ukraine is gradually introducing a social service to support children in inclusive education

Over the past five years, the number of inclusive classes for children with special educational needs has more than doubled in Ukrainian schools. The number of such groups in kindergartens is also growing. Accordingly, more and more children with special educational needs are able to attend educational institutions and not only acquire knowledge, but also communicate with their peers. As part of creating even more comfortable conditions for such children, on the eve of the full-scale invasion, the order of the Ministry of Social Policy on the state standard of social support services during inclusive education came into force, and the institute of "child (student) assistant" was introduced in Ukraine, UNN writes.

According to the Ministry of Education, as of the beginning of 2024, there were 6158 inclusive groups in preschool education institutions in Ukraine, attended by 11.3 thousand children with special educational needs, 29.3 inclusive classes in schools attended by almost 40.5 thousand children, and 807 special classes in schools attended by just over seven thousand children.

At the same time, according to some NGOs, about 700,000 boys and girls under the age of 18 in Ukraine can be classified as children with special educational needs.

To ensure that these needs are met to the fullest extent possible, it was decided to divide them into educational and domestic needs. In early February 2022, the state standard of social service  for support during inclusive education came into force. It stipulates that a teacher's assistant is responsible for the child's education, and a child's assistant is responsible for everyday needs, but has no right to interfere in the educational process. Their main task is to help a child with special needs with eating, washing hands, changing clothes, going to the toilet, accompanying them when they move around the school, etc.

Due to the full-scale Russian invasion, the introduction of this service had to be postponed. However, as kindergartens and schools began to return to offline learning, this issue became relevant again. And in this situation, it is important how ready communities are to introduce this service, because it is free for parents and funded by local budgets.

"When the state delegates powers to local councils, yes, this is decentralization. But, in addition, the state must also delegate funds to fulfill this very important social function. This is indeed a European and world experience that we must implement, and it is important that children with special needs have the opportunity to have equal access to knowledge, and on the other hand, they feel as comfortable as possible in educational institutions, both school and preschool

This is a social component, and even in this difficult time, when the security and defense sector comes first, we must remember that these children are already experiencing war, including war, no matter what territory they are on," said Mykhailo Tsymbalyuk, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Social Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Different communities have chosen their own approaches to introducing this service. In particular, in large cities such as Kyiv and Dnipro, it is centrally procured from NGOs. In turn, in Brovary, the staff of social workers at the City Center for Social Services is being increased for this purpose.

"There are currently 142 children with special educational needs in our community. In principle, they can attend all educational institutions in the community. There are inclusive groups and classes in kindergartens and schools. We make every effort to make them feel as comfortable as possible in educational institutions. So that they have all the conditions for learning and meeting their other needs. We see that these children need this service, there are people who are ready to provide it, so at the previous session of the city council we increased the staff of social workers at the Center for Social Services to 15 people," said Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko in a commentary to UNN.

At the same time, according to Lyudmyla Mardar, head of the Brovary Center for Social Services, several things need to be taken into account when introducing this service.

"This service can be provided by both relatives of children and outsiders, whom we hire and pay a minimum wage. One social worker accompanies one child. It is important to understand that relatives of the child, unless they have undergone appropriate training and received a certificate, are not allowed to stay with the child in the educational institution during the educational process. We understand that constant care for a child with special needs is sometimes psychologically difficult for parents and other close people. Therefore, the standard is intended to be written so that the social worker relieves parents to some extent. But so far, there are few outsiders who are interested in this activity. Therefore, most of the applications we receive are again from mothers and grandmothers," explained Lyudmyla Mardar.