Ukrainian kindergartners receive educational tablets

FCA gave 58 electronic tablets to three kindergardens in Ukraine. The devices were purchased thanks to the donation of 20,000 euros provided by the Finnish NGO Pirkko and Tarmo Vahvelaisen Foundation to help ensure access to learning for Ukrainian children affected by the war.

SLAVUTYCH IS a city in northern Ukraine that was built for the evacuated staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster.

During the start of Ukraine war in 2022, it was encircled and occupied for several days before Russian forces finally withdrew from the area. Children and adults suffered from isolation, power outages and shortage of food and other supplies.

Since shortly after the Russian invasion, FCA has been working in Ukraine helping to rebuild educational facilities, not just with infrastructure and building improvements, such as bomb shelters; but also with teacher training and curriculum modernisation.

On April 27th 2023, FCA supported this work by giving 58 tablets to three kindergartens in Slavutych. The tablets were bought thanks to donations by the Finnish NGO Pirkko and Tarmo Vahvelaisen Foundation (Pirkko ja Tarmo Vahvelaisen Säätiö).

Fun Academy app pre-installed

Kindergartners were excited to receive the tablets, which will help them continue learning, even during air alerts.

All the tablets have a specialised learning application called Fun Academy installed, which makes them ready-to-go tools for educators teaching in the reality of everyday air alarms and threats of attack. When a class needs to move to the school bomb shelter, tablets allow teachers to continue lessons even outside of the classroom. Additionally, some children with special needs benefit from tablet-based learning.

The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus tablets were assessed first for quality and educational value by the Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science, and then handed over to three kindergartens: the Child Development Centre; Marite Kindergarten #4; and Kroonk Kindergarten #6. The institutions were chosen on the basis of having both bomb shelters and providing offline classes, making them best suited to use the tablets.

The devices contain 1840 exercises that can be used by children under six both in school with teachers and also at home with families.

FCA Ukraine Country Director, Patricia Maruschak, met with Yurii Fomichev, Mayor of Slavutych during the handover.

Nina Yeremina, the Head of the Municipal Education Department described the tablets as valuable support from the people of Finland and the first of its kind for them. She also passed on warm words of gratitude to the donor.

During the handover ceremony, children performed songs in national dress and were all excited to use the tablets.

Text and photos: Natalia Koroliuk

About Fun Academy Early Education App: the main purpose of the app is to bring stabilising activities into a child’s life. The tasks are activities and games developed for early childhood years education and that can be conducted by parents or other adult caregivers to provide certain psychosocial support, where a child can feel they are seen and listened to. The app also allows adults to implement everyday child-oriented practice. The Fun Academy App was developed by a Finnish early education company and has been translated into Ukrainian by the educational council of the Learning Together project and the EU4Skills project. The Ukrainian version of the app is free and serves as educational material for kids or for additional activities. The lessons are developed to also be used for group learning too.