UNICEF digital learning centers: opening in the village of Nadbuzkoy (Mykolaiv Oblast)

In the village On February 12, the opening of the Digital Learning Center (DLC) was held in Nadbuzhke Vesnyanska settlement territorial community of Mykolaiv region. This measure is symbolic and important, because Mykolaiv Oblast became one of the most affected regions during the full-scale war – more than 240 educational institutions were damaged and more than 33 were destroyed, according to the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Digital learning Centers (DLCs) are created to provide access to education in communities that are going through difficult times due to war. This project is implemented by UNICEF and the Association for Innovative and Digital Education (AIDE) with the support of regional state administrations.

"Mykolaiv regional state administration does everything possible to provide children and teenagers with comfortable conditions for learning and communication. It is very important that our partners help us in this, in particular UNICEF and the Association of Innovative and Digital Education," said the deputy head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Oleksandr Traitli

Center in the village Nadbuzke is one of 18 digital educational centers in the Mykolaiv region. Students can already use the most modern technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), etc.

The opening was attended by honored guests: Deputy Head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Oleksandr Traitli, UNICEF education specialist Reshma Agarval, UNICEF educational project coordinator Anatoliy Ignatovych, educational southern sub-cluster coordinator Tetyana Rodionova and director of the Department of Education and Science of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Alla Velikhovska. They got acquainted with the work of the Center and discussed the further development of the project.  

UNICEF Education Specialist Reshma Agarwal emphasized: "Each DLC will teach students who have limited access to education and need additional support, such as internally displaced children or children with disabilities." 

She also added that the centers will provide not only compensation for educational losses, but also career guidance, intellectual games and other useful and interesting activities.

Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Alla Velikhovska noted:"Digital educational centers open up new opportunities for education in the Mykolaiv region, helping students overcome difficulties and make up for losses caused by the war. It is important that the educational center was opened on the basis of the vocational and technical education institution - Nadbuz Professional Agrarian Lyceum. This gives not only an opportunity for the children of the community and the region to learn about future professions that they can get if they wish in the future, but also an impetus for the development of vocational and technical education institutions. Pupils of these educational institutions also need educational support in making up for educational losses and learning new technologies for further career development."

In Digital Education Centers, students can free of charge: · with the help of Artificial Intelligence, determine which subjects and topics from the school curriculum they need to catch up on; · learn using interactive case lessons and flipped classroom technology; ·  receive individual consultations (make up for educational losses) through a special application (the so-called Uber-School);
· acquire
· have fun with the special educational program "Minecraft";
· determine your level of proficiency and master the Ukrainian and English languages;
· get psycho-emotional support;     
·  create a Passport of Skills for 1,000+ modern professions with the help of certified professional orientation adaptive testing, determine the profession of your dreams and build an individual trajectory of further education and career.

The DLC coordinator is the Association of Innovative and Digital Education (AIDE), which, with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, has been successfully developing the Network of Ukrainian Educational Hubs since the beginning of the war, both in Ukraine and in EU countries, Great Britain, Japan and the USA.

"Our team aspires not just to open Digital Education Centers, but to turn them into real educational hubs for children and teenagers in communities most affected by war," says Dmytro Bondarenko, Deputy Chairman of the Association for Innovative and Digital Education (AIDE).

The above-mentioned activities take place within the framework of the project "Creation of Digital Education Centers (DLC) and provision of psychosocial support services for children and youth", which is implemented by the Association of Innovative and Digital Education together with UNICEF with the financial support of the Government of Japan.


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