Sitting on his bed, in a two-room apartment under the roof of a house in the hills of Nice, Oleksii, 12, takes advantage of his last moments of vacation to play on his phone. In a few days, his days will begin at 7 a.m. and will not end before 6:30 p.m. The peculiarity of Oleksii’s back to school is that he has two.
With his mother Oksana, they left kyiv at the time of the first Russian bombardments and arrived in France at the beginning of March. Oleksii has then already taken lessons in Nice and continued his 6th grade in a college 10 minutes from where he is staying. Despite all the current unknowns concerning the future of his country, the young boy only knows one thing: he wants to return to Ukraine.
For this reason, but also because “it’s difficult to follow subjects like physics-chemistry or mathematics in another language”, they decided with his mother that he would continue to follow the Ukrainian program provided online. “The first half of his day will be at the college in Nice and the other half on the computer,” says his mother.
Do not lose the level of Ukrainian school education
On his email, he has already received all the digital textbooks and his Ukrainian timetable. For French supplies, a backpack, a pencil case and a few notebooks are “ready”. “We are waiting to do the shopping because he will have a precise list in each subject”, specifies Oksana. He will attend the French, English, Spanish, geography and history lessons and then come back every lunchtime to eat and be ready for 1:30 p.m. and participate in the Ukrainian lessons which last five hours. “The goal is for him not to lose his level and for him to be able to pass the Ukrainian training exams and thus study in Ukraine when everything is over,” explains his mother.
When the subject of the return to France is mentioned, Oleksii smiles a little embarrassed before answering: “I am worried but I am ready”. And to add: “My biggest problem is being able to communicate with my comrades. I have the same feeling as the other children for a “normal” return to school but with the language barrier and therefore an additional difficulty in integrating myself. »
1,200 Ukrainian students dispersed in schools in the Alpes-Maritimes
Even if he is progressing in French, his level “is not very good”, comments Oksana. He still attended the courses of the Franco-Ukrainian Association Côte d’Azur (Afuca) this summer for which his mother is a teacher. “We had a group of 50 children, they wanted to enjoy the holidays and change their minds, she agrees. For the little ones, there is no problem of integration but for the older ones, they all want to go back to Ukraine. This airy center was also a way for them to make friends, spend time together and not feel alone in France. »
In total, 1,200 Ukrainian refugees will return to the Alpes-Maritimes. But all will be scattered. In his establishment, Oleksii is with two other Ukrainians but in different levels. “We can talk to each other during recess, but that’s all,” he continues.
Fortunately, he communicates “a little” in English with some children and sometimes uses a translator to understand what the teachers are explaining. Because his college will not provide French lessons for Ukrainians. They are too few. The young teenager must then add to his already busy schedule, learning the language. “It doesn’t leave him much time to play because he is also registered for swimming. Sport is very important,” insists Oksana.
“We have to live every day and not think about other projects”
Oleksii hardly hides his “sadness” of this comeback that he will make far from kyiv. “We discussed and he understood that we had to go through this stage to have a kind of normal life, continues his mother. We have to live every day and not think about other projects. We do not have a choice. We have to wait. »
She adds: “Apart from the stress of school, what worries him is knowing when he will see his father and grandmother, both of whom are still in Ukraine. “She too is worried but” avoids showing it too much “. “For my son, I have to be a mother who is not stressed, who does not cry and who must hold her head up despite the terrible news that we receive. »
This evening, the lights go out at “9:30 p.m., 10 p.m. maximum” for everyone in order to “get back into the school rhythm” and “keep a busy mind”.