Alexander Frisk, 5, is still a year away from starting elementary school in Sweden, where his Ukrainian family lives. But he is starting school this September anyway: In a Ukrainian Saturday school, Ukrainsk skola i Sverige.
His mother, Viktoria Frisk, who moved to Malmo from the Ukrainian city of Novovolynsk six years ago, wants her son to know Ukrainian language and culture. Two years ago she enrolled him into Ukrainian language classes for toddlers. Now, his two-year-old brother Mikael will start the same class, and for Alexander it is time to start Ukrainian school.
“It’s important to me that my children know their roots,” Frisk says. “Of course, they’ll grow up more Swedish than Ukrainian, but I dream that they will come to Ukraine and not have any language barriers.”
Ukrainsk skola i Sverige, the first Ukrainian school in Malmo, opens its doors for the first time this year. In the first year, it will teach the students the Ukrainian language by singing folk songs, reading Ukrainian fairy tales and playing games with a Ukrainian-speaking teacher. The school is funded by the Swedish government and the parents.
Next year, Alexander Frisk will enroll in a public Swedish-language school but continue going to his Ukrainian school every Saturday.
At least 10 million Ukrainians live outside of Ukraine. Dozens of Ukrainian schools function in every country with a Ukrainian diaspora to teach the second-generation Ukrainians their history and language.
Migration and schools
First Ukrainian schools abroad opened in the territory of modern-day Serbia in the middle of 18th century by Ukrainian migrants from Zakarpattya region.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have left Ukraine in several migration waves, most of them in the 20th century. Today, over 10 million Ukrainians live outside Ukraine – and many want their children to visit Ukrainian-language schools.
In Canada, where there are 1.2 million people of Ukrainian origin, there are about 80 bilingual schools and kindergartens with classes both in English and Ukrainian.
In the U.S., the government counts 893,000 ethnic Ukrainians, while the diaspora members have an unofficial estimation of 1.5 million. There are 45 bilingual Ukrainian-American schools that 3,000 students attend.
The schools are coordinated by the Ukrainian Educational Council, which trains and hires teachers, develops a curriculum and covers a part of the textbook expenses.
Some of the Ukrainian schools in the U.S. are full-time bilingual schools, while most only have classes on Saturdays and are an addition to regular American schools that their students attend.
Taras Shevchenko School of Ukrainian Studies in Washington and Parma, as well as Cleveland School of Ukrainian Studies in Parma have classes every day.
Europe boasts Ukrainian schools, too.
Eight Ukrainian schools hold Sunday classes in Italy. At least 11 Ukrainian schools are available in Spain. The Netherlands and Austria each have two Ukrainian-language schools. Some 14 Ukrainian schools are found in Poland, where 49,000 ethnic Ukrainians live. Fourteen Ukrainian schools function in Germany, most of them founded by churches, according to Ukrainian Saturday School in Munich data.
The list of countries where Ukrainian communities have Saturday or Sunday schools also includes Norway, Switzerland, Bulgaria, U.K., Argentina, Brazil, and countries of former Soviet Union as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Estonia and Latvia.
By contrast, in Russia, the country with the biggest Ukrainian diaspora of 2 million people according to the official statistics and about 10 million in unofficial estimations, there are only 12 Ukrainian schools that have classes on Saturdays, and not a single full-time school.
Representing Ukraine
Ukrainian schools abroad are founded by churches, Ukrainian community centers, or independent parent committees. The classes are usually held on Saturdays or Sundays in public schools, Ukrainian museums or cathedrals.
The Ukrainian program in such schools usually consists of Ridna Shkola (Native School) classes for elementary students who learn the basics of the Ukrainian language, and Kursy Ukrainoznavstva (Courses of Ukrainian Studies) for older students, where they study Ukrainian grammar, literature, geography, history and culture – all being taught in the Ukrainian language.
“We, the Ukrainians living abroad, are the face of our nation (for other nationalities),” Frisk says. “Ukrainian schools abroad are so important because they help (ethnic Ukrainians) to represent our nation to others.”
