The first ‘kindergarten on wheels’ has been set up in Kherson Oblast, where the pre-school education system has been affected by the hostilities. This initiative aims to provide preschoolers with access to education and leisure activities even in communities where regular kindergartens are temporarily unavailable. Equipped with the necessary educational materials, sports equipment and a safe learning environment, the bus now brings children closer to the educational process on a daily basis.
Equipment and educational function of the bus
The bus is fully adapted for classes with preschoolers. It is equipped with the necessary didactic materials that facilitate the learning process, as well as sports equipment that creates conditions for children’s active leisure. This allows us to provide not only an educational but also a recreational function, which is so important for the development of children.
In addition to the equipment, an important aspect of the project is the involvement of qualified specialists. Classes are taught by professional speech pathologists and psychologists who help children adapt to the difficult living conditions during the war. These specialists provide support to children, helping them to overcome stress and develop social skills, which is especially important at a time when children are forced to live in stressful conditions.
Organising mobile trips
The project provides for regular bus trips according to a set schedule to those settlements where it is currently not possible to open stationary kindergartens. The bus stops at locations where there are reliable shelters, providing safe conditions for classes. This solution partially compensates for the lack of traditional pre-school education in communities that have been deprived of access to educational institutions due to the hostilities.
A look at the future
According to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Education Agency, the mobile kindergarten will be an important support for children, helping them to receive educational services even in difficult times. This initiative will also serve as a kind of ‘pilot project’, as its results will allow us to assess the effectiveness of this approach in conditions of limited access to education.
“The bus will arrive on schedule in those settlements where there are no working kindergartens yet. It will stop where there are shelters. Unfortunately, many educational institutions in the Kherson region have been destroyed due to Russian aggression. Therefore, this mobile kindergarten will help to at least partially compensate for the lack of preschool education and support children who need it most,” Prokudin wrote on Telegram.
Deputy Minister of Early, Preschool and Inclusive Education Yevheniia Smirnova noted that this is a new format for Ukraine that has the potential for further development. She also noted that such mobile kindergartens have long been practiced in many countries, where they have achieved high results in children’s development. In her opinion, the project will contribute to the scientific study of the impact of mobile preschool education on children and will become the basis for planning the further expansion of this initiative to other regions.
“There are a lot of questions now, but with the first mobile kindergarten in place, we will be able to conduct research on its operation for further scaling and understand whether parents will send their children to such kindergartens. This will not replace a traditional kindergarten in the classical sense, but it will be an important support where and when it is most needed,’ Smirnova said on Facebook.
Although this mobile kindergarten will not replace a traditional institution, it plays an important role in supporting the educational process where it is most needed. In a time of war, such innovations demonstrate the flexibility and ability to adapt the educational system to modern challenges, promoting children’s development and ensuring their right to learn even in difficult circumstances.
