Education Around the World: How the High-Speed Internet Changed the School of Superheroes

The war that Russia started on February 24, 2022, has changed everything. Even though the School of Superheroes kept operating at the “Okhmatdyt” NDSL (Kyiv), almost all of our students had to go abroad for treatment. Some children need constant therapy because inpatient care has become a matter of life and death for them. However, most of our little superheroes, having just settled in new countries and hospitals, expressed a desire to keep studying.

This habitual routine is a kind of therapy for them and a way to connect with their homes. The children wanted to communicate with their favourite Ukrainian teachers. Without high-speed Internet, it would have been impossible.

Support from Bilink

Back in 2017, a happy story happened to us. We reached out to Internet providers in Kyiv with a request to support us. And Bilink volunteered to become our “window into the wider world”. Two classes of the School of Superheroes at “Okhmatdyt” NDSL immediately got access to high-speed Internet. This was a real game-changer for us because, despite the fact that “Okhmatdyt” is a national hospital of the state level, not all departments have free access to the network. And even where there is access, the speed did not allow for constant online classes, Zoom meetings or video playback.

With the high-speed Internet from Bilink, teachers finally got the opportunity to take advantage of free access to the network, show educational animations, and give children online tasks. And even outside of class, the kids dived into the world of interesting facts and game-based educational films. The kids’ favourite computer science classes with Bohdan Savchenko increased in productivity as a side benefit.

Each classroom has its own access

Among other classrooms that got the Internet, there was one in the HIV department. Right in the middle of the department renovation, we managed to add that extra touch and complete the renovation of the classroom with access to the network. The School of Superheroes traces back to this very classroom at a time when there was neither a name nor a brand. And now, in between air raid sirens, classes are still being conducted here.

The second classroom to get Internet from Bilink in 2018 was classroom 2.0 in a building, where children with acute and chronic intoxication are treated. It was the first class to get the signature design of the School of Superheroes.

The School in the time of war

It is hard to imagine how we could possibly keep the studying process going on without constant access to the Internet. As our teachers started conducting online classes at the time of the COVID pandemic, there was no shortage of experience. During the quarantine period alone, we reached more than 80 children. And if it seems like an insignificant number, imagine that some of these little superheroes regularly engaged with teachers for more than 2 months, and some studied for 2 years of constant lockdowns (for example, there are little patients with oncology or autoimmune diseases, due to which regular school visits are out of the question).

Now online classes have become a lifesaver. First, because of the war, not all teachers can physically get to the hospital and conduct lessons. But they are all ready to work online. Today, 8 teachers are constantly conducting classes online.

Secondly, for children who are forced to find themselves abroad, this is the only opportunity to continue their education. Online classes allow you not to fall out of the process and stick to a routine.

Third, for children who find themselves in the hospital due to severe wounds, injuries and evacuations from the occupied territories, lessons and activities become therapy. Even the banal ability to watch a cartoon or read a book online allows you to return a little to your childhood. And many of the children who ended up in the NDSL  “Okhmatdyt” show a desire to learn.

Classes are a therapy

For example, Oleksiy Pavlovsky, who was a second-grader in Mariupol before the war, adored Ukrainian language classes, computer science and the subject “I explore the world.” He dreamed of becoming a football player or a coach, he wanted to learn to run faster than everyone else, and in his spare time, he was building LEGO.

From the beginning of the war, Oleksiy’s life has changed. He was hiding from bombs in a basement 24 hours a day. The boy and his family lived for a whole month in inhumane conditions without proper access to water and medicine. In mid-April, the family managed to flee. Oleksiy got to Okhmatdyt for an examination. Here he heard about the School of Superheroes from a teacher, Valentyna Lutsenko. The parents decided to try the classes, despite the fact that the boy almost stopped talking and was reluctant to communicate with strangers: “We were happy that the child could learn and be socialized even in the conditions of a hospital and war. It’s very cool!”.

The teacher found an approach to the boy and very carefully, with respect for his emotional well-being, helped him get back to studying. Now the boy is studying the Ukrainian language and mathematics.

Teachers who care

The Superheroes School has always been a place where teachers allowed children to feel special, needed and free in their dreams and desires. This is not about presenting materials in a dry way. The educational process in hospitals always has a special form with an individual approach at the heart of it. Each class turns into a kind of game with smiles on faces. Access to the Internet has greatly simplified the work of teachers and allowed them to reach out to even more children.

After all, not all Superheroes Schools have resumed their operation yet. For example, Kherson is still occupied. The Lviv hospital has such a heavy load of children who were evacuated from the places of hostilities that it is simply impossible to resume the peaceful work of the School as for now.

However, children can still practice online. And every teacher who supports them during the war is a real superhero. We are grateful to our partners for their constant support. We are also grateful that we have the strength and possibility to continue to protect the childhood of our little superheroes.