ПОИСК ПО САЙТУ 
поиск по ресурсному центру On October 19, Yevgenia Smirnova, the chairperson of the Small Heart with Art NGO, called to establish schooling facilities in the regional children’s hospitals during the ‘Right to Power” show airing at the national 1+1 channel, so that the children undergoing a prolonged treatment could exercise their constitutional right to the education.
For the second year Small Heart with Art has been implementing educational programs in the HIV department of the Okhmatdet Mother and Child Clinic with the support of partners and volunteers; they even opened a classroom in June 2017.
“For more than three years we have been helping the clinic and the HIV department of Okhmatdet, providing medicines that are not procured by the state, essential hygienic products, bedding, household chemicals, and even ensured heat insulation of the department premises so that children would not suffer from the cold. And it immediately became obvious that the children we are taking care of also urgently need a school! Many of them are on treatment for a long time, so they are unable to attend regular school for prolonged periods.
In the HIV department receiving our aid there is a girl who has been on treatment for over eight years, and only due to volunteers she has learned to write and read! Teachers from the general education school were supposed to visit he already in two weeks after hospitalization, but our education and health systems are so inert and inefficient that they fail at setting up efficient communications to ensure the constitutional right of children to education! The education of patients in healthcare facilities is supposed to be the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, and while they recognize it, they do not take any real action to ensure learning for children in hospitals. We have many times approached the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with the proposal of cooperation and creation of a methodology for teaching in hospitals, but so far the officials did not manage it beyond empty promises.
Our officials have become too relaxed, as volunteers step in and solve lot of problems, but the public sector has changed very much over the years − we are not going to cover for state structures functions, while paying taxes to sustain them. We will demand that the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health would efficiently perform their duties”, Yevgenia Smirnova writes in her blog.
The Small Heart with Art NGO is a member of ECUO PLWH Parents Union, which safeguards the rights of HIV-positive children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
