- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
'Missing' Ukrainian children prepare to join Polish schools
Children returning to school in Poland next week will find a new group of classmates -- Ukrainian children now living in the country who were not previously enrolled in the Polish education system.
A new law making education compulsory for refugee families is coming into force but nobody knows exactly how many children will enrol, with estimates ranging from 20,000 to 80,000.
"We are still in limbo," said Maryna Rud, the mother of 12-year-old Nadia, who left Ukraine at the outset of the Russian invasion in 2022.
Rud enrolled her daughter in a Polish school but said she suffered months of bullying and she eventually took her out.
"They laughed at her incorrect pronunciation. She would tell me: 'I say a word, they laugh, I say a word, they laugh'," Maryna recounted.
Nadia spent the last year studying online in a Ukrainian school, a solution still relied on by many refugee families.
- 'Missing in Poland' -
Exactly how many children are unaccounted for in the Polish education system "is a great unknown," said Jedrzej Witkowski, head of the Centre for Citizenship Education, a nonprofit group.
In the weeks after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland opened its borders to shelter refugees and the European Union granted them the right to move freely across the bloc.
"It's very hard to monitor," Witkowski said. "We are unable to say exactly how many schoolchildren, or more broadly, how many Ukrainian citizens, have taken refuge in Poland and how many still remain in our country."
Around 134,000 Ukrainian children attended Polish schools before the summer holidays.
The Centre for Citizenship Education estimated that 20,000 to 80,000 children have so far been outside the education system.
In the "best case scenario", Witkowski said, the children have been following lessons remotely.
That was the case for Ivan, a 12-year-old who moved to Poland with his mother, Nataliya Khotsinovska, right after the invasion.
Ivan has been learning Polish during the summer, but for now, his mother chose to send him to a private Ukrainian school, a solution she calls "a soft transition period".
"We have no friends here, no one to communicate with," Khotsinovska told AFP.
"It's also hard for mothers... Sometimes you hesitate between the result of learning and the child's peace of mind," Khotsinovska said.
- Fly swatters -
Her son participated in a series of language courses and integration activities run by the Catholic Intelligentsia Club (KIK) in Warsaw.
The project, called "Trampoline", is designed to help Ukrainian children -- and their parents -- with the transition.
The courses show "how to respond to bullying, to teach parents how to act," said Olesya Kolisnyk, one of the organisers.
"Ninety-nine percent have problems with bullying," Kolisnyk told AFP, echoing experts' warnings that it is one of two major problems for Ukrainian children, alongside the language barrier.
To help with the latter, Homo Faber, a nonprofit from the city of Lublin, began offering language courses for Ukrainians who start learning in Polish schools.
Sitting around a table, a group of seven children meticulously practise tracing the letter "c" before being handed fly swatters to tap cards depicting objects starting with that letter.
Paulina Skrzypek, teacher of the seven to nine-year-olds age group, said that Polish and Ukrainian bear similarities, but that does not necessarily work in refugee children's favour.
"We have those so-called 'false friends', and kids think that in Polish something sounds the same as in Ukrainian, but it turns out it doesn't," she said.
- 'Has Putin died?' -
To Danuta Kozakiewicz, headmistress of a Warsaw primary school, language plays a crucial role in how Ukrainian children get along with their Polish peers.
Kozakiewicz also organises various integration events, from football tournaments to school trips.
"During a football match, one kid is shouting in Polish, the other in Ukrainian, but they somehow know what's going on -- and they play for the same team," she said, laughing.
But problems remain, especially when the Ukrainian children suddenly disappear when their parents decided to return to Ukraine or relocate to another country without notifying the school.
Returning home is what many Ukrainian schoolchildren in Poland still yearn for.
"They check social media every day and see what's going on. 'What's the news, has Putin died?'" Maryna Rud said.
"They are constantly waiting, every day, for that moment of coming back home."
F.Schneider--AMWN