In the autumn, 560 elementary and high school students will start their studies at the Freedom School for Ukrainian youth. Teaching at the school located in the center of Tallinn will be conducted in Estonian and Ukrainian, in addition to compulsory subjects, Ukrainian language and culture can also be studied at the school.
At the school's opening ceremony held this morning, the school family was welcomed by the Minister of Education and Science , Tõnis Lukas , who emphasized that wisdom and education are the key to a person's personal freedom. "We only understand the importance of freedom when it starts to disappear. Therefore, we must keep it. Freedom is neither given nor gifted, it must be taken and defended every day.” The minister added that the main wish of the beginning academic year is for Ukraine to win the war - then our common destinies in Ukraine and Estonia will also take a positive turn. "The Estonian state supports the Freedom School, Ukrainian students and their families. We will do our best to ensure that Ukrainian youth get a good education in Estonia and find friends for life," said Minister Lukas.
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska addressed the school family in a video call and said that she understands the students' uncertainty about the future, but the school has created all the conditions for high-quality and interesting teaching. "The state of Estonia guarantees you the opportunity to study. You have classes in both Estonian and Ukrainian, which means that your mother tongue and Estonian studies go hand in hand. This is Freedom School. With it, you have freedom of knowledge, language and communication - freedom with which the whole world is free for you," added Zelenska.
According to Olga Selištševa , the educational director of the Freedom School , the school's primary task is to create a safe learning environment and support the development of each student. "We are very happy that in a little more than three months we have created a school where 560 young Ukrainians are starting their studies today. Each of our students has their own story that they come to our school with, but I believe that starting today, they can supplement their stories with a new beautiful page, full of the joy of learning and discovery, nice meetings and new friends," Selishcheva said.
The School of Freedom operates as a school of Tallinn Tõnismäe State High School. Alo Savi , director of Tallinn Tõnismäe State High School , said that starting studies at the Freedom School is both a responsibility and an opportunity, not only for students, but also for teachers. "We have the responsibility to offer high-quality education and the opportunity to test ourselves by creating a high-quality, supportive and developing school environment for young people who really need it. The future of Vabadus Kooli is to become a center for education in Estonian for young people whose mother tongue is not Estonian. A center that cooperates closely and interwoven with other state high schools and with the wider Tallinn education network," said Savi.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Ukraine to Estonia, Mariana Betsa, also spoke at the opening ceremony.
560 schoolchildren start their studies at the Freedom School, 320 of them will study in the third level of elementary school and 240 in high school. The classes have a total of 20 to 22 students, in the elementary school level, each class has two class teachers - one with a Ukrainian background and the other with an Estonian background.
As of today, the school's team consists of 73 people, 29 of whom are teachers and support specialists from Ukraine. Teaching at the Freedom School will be conducted using the language immersion method - 60% of the teaching will be in Estonian and 40% in Ukrainian. The national language, social studies, human studies, technology studies, music, physical education and art are taught in Estonian. Teaching in physics, chemistry, science, and Ukrainian language and culture classes will be conducted in Ukrainian. Mathematics, literature, history, geography and biology classes are held in both Estonian and Ukrainian.
The gallery of the school's opening ceremony can be found https://www.hm.ee/sites/default/files/linkmeta/externallinkicon.gif") right center no-repeat transparent;">here .
Contact for media inquiries:
Vladislav Lušin ,
Head of Communication at Freedom School
Tel. (+372) 5836 6401
See e-posti aadress on spämmirobotite eest kaitstud. Selle nägemiseks peab su veebilehitsejas olema JavaSkript sisse lülitatud.
