A recent feature by German national newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung highlights Science4People’s respite camps and SKOLA+ educational initiatives. In the article, founder Ferenc Krausz and project coordinator Tetyana Bergues share why supporting Ukraine's youth is an investment in our shared European future.
The feature highlights our two primary pillars of support for children in war-impacted regions of Ukraine: providing immediate psychosocial relief through summer respite camps and ensuring long-term educational continuity through our SKOLA+ program.
Psychosocial Relief Through Respite Camps
For millions of children across Ukraine, daily life is burdened by air raid sirens, bomb alarms, and constant psychological stress. In response, S4P organizes regular respite camps in the village of Batyovo in Western Ukraine — a peaceful location far from the active frontlines.
These camps welcome children from front-line regions, internally displaced families, children of active soldiers, and those who have lost loved ones in the war. Led by professional pedagogues and psychologists, the camps offer art therapy workshops, group sports, outdoor activities, and stress-coping strategies.
As S4P project coordinator Tetyana Bergues explained in the Süddeutsche Zeitung article, emotional recovery is the prerequisite for learning and healing:
“It is a psychosocial recovery for children who are particularly burdened by the war.”
– Tetyana Bergues, S4P Project Coordinator
Safeguarding Education Through SKOLA+
Beyond immediate emotional relief, Science4People is deeply committed to rebuilding and safeguarding educational opportunities. War disrupts schooling, leaves critical gaps in learning, and leaves rural schools without basic lab equipment or teaching materials.
Through our SKOLA+ program, S4P provides free supplementary tutoring after regular school hours to help pupils catch up on missed material. To date, over 300 children across five schools in rural Ukraine are participating. S4P is also currently developing mobile laboratories so that children in damaged or under-equipped rural schools can perform hands-on experiments in biology, physics, and chemistry.
Highlighting the fundamental belief behind SKOLA+, Tetyana Bergues stated:
“Our core principle is: No child should live without education. Educated children
are our contribution to the reconstruction of the country. Especially in rural
regions, many schools are poorly equipped, and because of the war, many essential
items have become scarce.”
– Tetyana Bergues, S4P Project Coordinator
Investing in Ukraine’s Future – and Europe’s Future
For Krausz, standing with Ukraine's children is a commitment that reaches far beyond the country's borders.:
“Whoever invests in the education and development of young people today is investing
at the same time in the future of Ukraine – and thus in the future of Europe.”
– Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz, Founder of Science4People & 2023 Nobel Laureate in Physics
How You Can Help
All Science4People initiatives – from respite camps to school tutoring and mobile science labs – are financed entirely through private donations and partnerships.
Please consider donating to support our mission: Donate here