Teaching Ukrainian children to code

In July 2023, Galyna Andreytsiv, head of the Prague Maidan Integration Center, invited our colleague Ladislav Seredi to conduct programming courses. Prague Maidan's Creative HUB in Nusle provides a safe, engaging, and productive space for Ukrainian youth to spend their free time. Their primary goal is to provide a friendly environment where young Ukrainians can escape the war's impact and adapt to Czech life.

Ladislav Seredi developed a Python programming course for nine Ukrainian children aged 14 to 18. The course, held weekly on Friday afternoons, has grown in popularity, leading to the creation of a second group. Additionally, two courses for children aged 10 to 14 are running at the Přístav community center in Holešovice, where 16 children are learning programming fundamentals.

Seredi is assisted by four Ukrainian students from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering: Kseniia Yemtseva, Kateryna Padusenko, Rakhman Karymshakov, and Ivan Zinchenko. These students volunteer their time to teach and provide language support, sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with their younger peers.

Kateryna Padusenko expresses her joy in witnessing the progress of her students: "Seeing children who've never coded write functional code on their own is incredibly rewarding. I'm proud of them, and it somewhat fills the void of not being able to communicate with my younger brother who's still in Ukraine."

Talented High School Students Aspire to Become Programmers

As Ukrainian refugees integrate into Czech society, they seek opportunities for personal and professional development. Programming offers a promising career path, and several gifted students attending the Nusle course have expressed a strong desire to pursue this field. Seredi has received positive feedback from both students and parents.

Galyna Andreytsiv, head of the Prague Maidan Ukrainian Centre, emphasizes the importance of providing meaningful activities for young refugees: "Programming has a future and offers financial independence. Parents appreciate that children are spending their time productively and enjoying the process. We're fortunate to have experts from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering guiding these courses. Kataryna efficiently manages the program and communicates with parents and children."

A Bright Future Through Programming

The courses at Prague Maidan cover various topics relevant to high school students' future studies, including Raspberry Pi programming.

Vladislava Laviniuková, a 9th-grade student with a passion for drawing and gaming, has been attending the course for over six months. She aims to create her own computer game and believes that Python programming will help her achieve this goal. Vladislava appreciates the Ukrainian-language instruction, which eases the language barrier.

Her mother, Olha Laviniuková, confirms Vladislava's enthusiasm for computer graphics and game design. She praises Kateryna Padusenko's engaging teaching style and the significant progress the children have made in just half a year.