Jewish Education for Children with Disabilities- Kharkov, Ukraine

KEY FACTS

Currently caters for 150 pupils per academic year

25% of school hours devoted to Jewish education.

Lyceum Shaalavim’s philosophy is based on the understanding that children with learning and social difficulties need timely interventions to enable them to participate successfully in life at school and in the community

Since its foundation in 1994, the Lyceum Shaalavim has provided free education for 842 pupils, with 131 receiving medical treatment and 185 receiving clothing and other basic supplies.

Lyceum Shaalavim’s philosophy is based on the understanding that children with learning and social difficulties need timely interventions to enable them to participate successfully in life at school and in the community. The skills acquired during these early years are enormously influential and will exert a fundamental influence on their future development.

The programme assists mainly primary school children with special needs and their families. It allows them to feel a part of society and brings them into Jewish society too. There are a number of children in the Kharkov region of both primary and secondary school age who have significant difficulties in learning and adapting to school conditions.

The school maintains a mixed ability ethos, whereby gifted children are taught alongside those with various degrees of physical and social disability. The Jewish aspect of the curriculum is also of paramount importance, in that children of all abilities are taught Jewish history, Jewish practice and Hebrew. The aim is to offer children and their families a forum in which they can embrace their Jewish roots and traditions and thereby enrich their lives.

Routine medical inspections, inoculations, physiotherapy, psychology, speech therapy and special studies are provided, with 25% of school hours devoted to Jewish education.