STA, 1 April 2022 - Currently, 268 Ukrainian children are enrolled in 113 Slovenian schools. Next week, they will be joined by the children staying at the Logatec and Debeli Rtič refugee centres. According to Education Minister Simona Kustec, schools have shown a great deal of understanding and care in accepting the new students.
She thanked all head teachers, staff, children and their parents in Grosuplje today for "understanding how important it is to open the doors of schools to give children the opportunity to socialise in a safe and warm second home".
The Education Institute has drawn up additional guidelines regarding the inclusion of Ukrainian children to schools, which Kustec said would be forwarded to schools next week.
Next week, the number of Ukrainian children attending Slovenian schools is to raise to 366 as the children from the Logatec and Debeli Rtič facilities are enrolled in education as well. In Logatec, there are currently 125 children, some of whom will attend the primary school in Horjul due to limited capacities in Logatec.
Some schools are also full on the coast, so children from Debeli Rtič will go to the near-by Ankaran as well as Hrvatini primary schools.
Ukrainian children attend school all over the country, but most of them are in central Slovenia, Primorska in the south-west, and Podravska and Prekmurje in the north-east.
Currently, most children from Ukraine attend the primary school in Ormož, where many Slovenian companies cooperated with Ukrainians.
All Ukrainian children are entitled to a free school meal and free textbook rental.
At the beginning of the school year, 228 children from Ukraine were enrolled in Slovenian schools, as their parents already lived in Slovenia.
Currently, seven students attend four secondary schools in Slovenia.
Ukrainian children have also access to public music schools, which are currently attended by four Ukrainians. 42 Ukrainian children attend Slovenian kindergartens.
The University of Ljubljana, the country's largest, said in a press release that there are currently 38 Ukrainian students studying at their faculties.
For the 2022/2023 academic year, the university has received 150 applications for enrolment from Ukraine, with the greatest interest in the Faculty of Medicine.
Ukrainian students can also study at the University of Maribor.