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The war against Ukraine had a relatively significant impact on the life of schools in Slovakia. There has been a sharp increase in children who do not speak the Slovak language and come from a different geographical and cultural environment. In addition, they often carry with them trauma from the events they experienced at home.
Foreigners, however, were educated in our schools even before the war. The professional public has been warning for a long time that the number of people from abroad will increase in Slovakia and this will also have an impact on education. The situation in Ukraine significantly accelerated the expected development.
Let’s see what the war against Ukraine has done to the number of children from abroad in our schools. And whether we managed to manage at least the basic condition for the inclusion of children from Ukraine in education, i.e. ensuring that they go to our schools.
The number of foreigners in schools more than doubled during the war
Before the start of the war against Ukraine, i.e. in September 2021, there were 8,479 children with a nationality other than Slovak in our kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. That was one percent of all children in schools.
The war fundamentally changed this situation. This number has more than doubled. According to data from September 2022, there were already 19,175 of them in our schools, or 2.2 percent.
Most children from abroad go to primary schools. It was valid before the war and it is also valid during it. In 2021, 4,727 children of foreign origin attended elementary schools in Slovakia (1 percent of all children). Last year there were 12,277 (2.5 percent).
The fewest of these children are in kindergartens (1,079 before the war and 2,760 last year during it), but their share has risen relatively significantly, similarly to the case of elementary schools. While in 2021 there were 0.6 percent of children from abroad in kindergartens, in 2022 it was already 1.5 percent.
An interesting situation occurred in secondary schools.