Children's safety is a priority for the whole world: the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen took place
Nowadays security has become one of the most important values and needs not only in Ukraine but also in the whole world. Therefore, achieving global security, for every adult and child, should be our common goal.
The Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, initiated by First Lady Olena Zelenska, is dedicated to this issue, namely, to the safety of children. The Summit unites the international community around common values, promotes dialogue, partnership and effective response to global challenges.
Our key goal is to emphasize the safety issue in Ukraine, find effective solutions and enlist support. We have to guarantee the right to safety and create a safe environment for our children wherever they are, whether in the family, at school or in the virtual space. Safety should accompany everyone throughout their lives.
“Only all conscious, responsible adults in the world can provide safety for children. Moreover, we, adults, owe them safety. Because they came into our world, and if they are in danger, our common task is to stop the threat,” said First Lady Olena Zelenska.
“Our mission is to build an educational system capable of growing professional and happy people for the new innovative economy: сitizens who can protect themselves and their homes from any threats. One of the strategic solutions that will help Ukrainians develop as a nation is the Educational Mriya. It will help students, teachers, school administrators, and parents ensure a high-quality, transparent educational process. The application is already being tested in 40 schools, and gradually every school will be able to connect to the Mriya app,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
The Summit paid special attention to the issue of children's safety at school, in particular at a panel discussion with Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Yasmin Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, Bob Som, Regional Director for Eastern Europe at the World Bank, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and moderated by Olha Budnyk, Advisor to the Presidential Commissioner for the Presidential Foundation for Support of Education, Science and Sports. The co-organizers of the stage dedicated to the topic “Children's Safety at School” were the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MOES) and the Presidential Foundation for Support of Education, Science and Sports.
The Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine first focused the international community's attention on how the security situation in Ukraine affects the educational process and its participants. He emphasized:
“The war has deprived our children of an important element of the educational process –social interaction. Today, about 1 million Ukrainian children study remotely. Our task is to restore children's access to a safe educational space. That is why the government is investing in security. We have allocated UAH 7.5 billion to build shelters. But shelters are only part of a whole range of security measures that the Ministry of Education and Science is implementing in educational institutions. The main goal is to restore the sense of security stolen from our children.”
First Lady of Finland Susanne Innes-Stubb emphasized the importance of holding such events to combat common challenges:
“I am honored to participate in the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen and show Finland’s support for Ukraine. I admire the work that Olena Zelenska does to protect children and to raise the importance of education in Ukraine.”
“Our next task is building a future where such aggression is impossible. I believe that the key is in education that builds empathy and emotional resilience,“ says Sirje Karis, First Lady of Estonia.
Brigitte Macron, the First Lady of France, also joined the panel discussion online.
Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), expressed her support and willingness to cooperate: “The bombing of schools and targeting of civilians is unacceptable. In all, more than 1,200 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine since February 2022. ECW and its strategic donor partners are working with the Government of Ukraine, UN agencies and local partners to provide girls and boys impacted by this brutal war with the safety and protection that only a quality education can provide. We urge partners to join us to scale-up support to provide every girl and boy in Ukraine with their human right to a quality education,” she said.
However, the physical component is only part of the overall sense of human security, and a sense of inner security and peace of mind also plays an important role in a person's overall well-being. Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), raised this issue during the panel discussion “Safety at School”: “In this dark moment, Ukrainian teachers cannot always guarantee their students’ physical safety, but they can – and do – give students a sense of inner safety and sense of optimism and belonging. During the war, many Ukrainian teachers have evolved from good instructors to becoming also good coaches, good mentors and good facilitators who devote due attention to developing not just cognitive but also social and emotional well-being of their students. These efforts are bearing fruit. In the latest PISA survey, Ukrainian 15-year-olds reported a greater sense of safety at schools than their counterparts in the United States and many European countries.”
We are grateful that our international partners are constantly supporting us in our efforts to guarantee the rights of our children to safety. This is emphasized by Bob Saum, World Bank Country Director for Eastern Europe: “Recently we signed with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Science a new operation called LEARN, which is precisely focused on ensuring children’s safety and well-being a key enabling condition for learning. This $415m Project will support key results in two fronts –ensuring enabling conditions for access, such as shelters and free transportation, while protecting education quality with a future vision through the “New Ukrainian School” (or NUS).”
The panel was supported by UNESCO and Ajax. The Summit also featured the results of a comprehensive survey, “Protection of Childhood: Security Dimensions for Children and Adolescents,” which was conducted specifically for the event. The survey covered 15 countries to identify the problems faced by parents and children. More details can be found here.
International coverage of issues and challenges related to Russian aggression is what drives us to overcome the enemy and strengthens our position.
The Summit resulted in a joint declaration aimed at uniting the efforts of the world's top leaders to protect the rights of children during armed conflicts and wars. The declaration will include measures to search for, identify and return home deported children, help internally displaced families, and evacuate children from war zones.
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is grateful to each partner, donor and the international community for their recognition, support, constructive dialogue and joint search for effective solutions.