A free online educational platform which helps Ukrainian pupils to translate their school work has launched for UK and Irish schools.
Ukraine School allows teachers to set homework, run class projects, message students, create blogs and calendars which are automatically translated into Ukrainian for children. Once work is completed, it is translated back into English or Irish for teachers to give feedback on.
“The idea behind the platform is that Ukrainian children will be able to continue their education with minimal interruption, in spite of everything else they might be dealing with at the moment,” said founder and tech entrepreneur, Brendan Morrisey.
Morrisey repurposed the technology used for his business ‘eSchools‘ which provides online teaching and communications solutions to teachers and pupils across 1,100 UK schools.
Speaking on Ukraine School, Morrisey said “it also allows children to connect with new friends and teachers in a safe environment. Our motto at eSchools is that no child is left behind so we had to develop this to assist them”.
Morrisey hopes the app can help schools and local authorities to support refugees “in a meaningful way” and “without incurring further costs on already stretched school budgets” which is why he has chosen to offer the service for free.
“The next step is for other tech companies to get involved, the likes of Google, Microsoft, or Samsung. We’d really like to see these companies support what we’re doing by providing hardware to local schools with our platform pre-loaded. This would allow children to continue learning and working in their new homes in the UK.”
With over 50 languages available on the platform, Morrisey hopes to roll out the innovation to other countries where Ukrainian children are settling.
According to UNICEF, by May 1 2022, more than 5.4 million refugees had fled Ukraine, around half of them children.
“The war has caused one of the fastest large-scale displacements of children since World War II,” said UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell.
“This is a grim milestone that could have lasting consequences for generations to come. Children’s safety, wellbeing and access to essential services are all under threat from non-stop violence,” she added.
