Green school for those who do not have school yet. On September 23, 55 children from flooded Kłodzko will come to the seaside. When over 430 schools are closed in the flooded areas, the important question is what about the students who do not have a chance for lessons yet?
There is not much left of the kindergarten in Stronie Śląskie after the devastating element. There is no and will be no talk of any care for children there for a long time. All that remains of the facility are completely wet walls.
And in Stronie alone, there were over 200 children in the kindergarten and nursery. – I dream of coming back here, seeing the smiling children who welcome us to the kindergarten – says Celina Chęś-Drańczuk, director of the kindergarten and municipal nursery named after John Paul II in Stronie Śląskie.
In a flooded school in Wleń, the auditorium and boiler room were underwater. And even drying these rooms does not mean that normal teaching will return in the coming days.
– We are waiting for winter, so in order to start lessons here with children, we need to have smoking – says Magdalena Borkowska, director of the Saint Jadwiga School Complex in Wleń.
Unaffected schools have been transformed into support centres
There are currently over 200 such schools in Lower Silesia and the Opole region that have been destroyed or damaged. Another 200 – although they survived intact – have now turned into aid centers, collection centers for donations and places of shelter for flood victims instead of teaching.
– At the moment we have almost 130 people evacuated here – says Katarzyna Świderska, principal of the Juliusz Słowacki Primary School in Łosów.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Education, approximately 200,000 children live in areas affected by the state of natural disaster.
– Every child, regardless of whether their school building is currently ready for use, whether it is flooded or partially destroyed, will soon have care provided – announces the Minister of National Education, Barbara Nowacka.
“Green schools” for children from flooded areas
The Ministry of Education is launching the “Schools for Schools” platform. It is intended to provide children from flooded areas with trips to safe places for green schools.
On a special website, schools affected by the flood and those that will accept their students can register. In addition, centers that will provide accommodation and companies that will transport children. Free of charge.
– We will be an element connecting this educational facility, the classroom with the railway station and the place where they will rest – assures Mirosław Marczewski, director of the Foundation for the Development of the Education System.
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The first green school will start on September 23 in a recreation center in Sopot. The local government pays for the stay. The ministry pays for transport. 55 children with five guardians will come to the seaside from flooded Kłodzko. They will have two weeks without tests and without stress.
Students from Primary School No. 1 in Kłodzko will come to Sopot. The flood has flooded the lower floors of the facility and although classes will start there on September 23, for many children the cataclysm has not ended at all, because they have lost their homes and have nowhere to return from school.
– One girl sleeps with the blinds open because she's afraid to close them. She's afraid of the water coming – says Dorota Stokłosa, a teacher at Adam Mickiewicz Primary School No. 1 in Kłodzko.
For now, the “School to School” program is scheduled to last until December.
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