An initiative has been launched aimed at helping newly arrived Ukrainian children to integrate into primary schools through sport.
llianz and Cumann to mBunscol support schools across Ireland to help Ukrainian schoolchildren participate in local Gaelic gaming activities, as part of Cumann to mBunscol Week.
Allianz provided these schools with 500 soccer balls, 200 hurleys and 200 sliothars to help the refugee school children fall in love with the national games.
The 26 schools participating in the scheme admitted a total of 383 Ukrainian school children.
One such school is St Brigid’s NS in Drumcong, Co Leitrim, which has welcomed 23 Ukrainian children since the war began in February. The seven-teacher school had just over 150 pupils before the Russian invasion.
Micheál MacThiarnain teaches at St Brigid’s, and he is one of the school’s principal Cumann to mBunscol organizers. He said the sport’s initiative will help the pupils interact with each other in a way that comes naturally.
Near
St Oliver’s National School in Killarney, Kerry, was one of twenty – six schools across the country joining an initiative organized between Allianz and Cumann to mBunscol, which will support Ukrainian schoolchildren through their schools to local Gaelics. participate in game activities. Photo by Brendan Moran / Sportsfile.
“It’s the universal language of children, isn’t it? It can be challenging to get them to talk or communicate, but if you give them a ball or a pendulum and a sliotar, no words are needed. Sport is really what unites all children, ”he said.
St Brigid’s and the national school in nearby Drumshanbo welcomed almost one third of the total number of Ukrainian refugee school children in the whole Co Leitrim.
Mr MacThiarnain said they were “happy” to have the space to welcome so many pupils, adding: “Children need to be integrated and educated”.
The school received 30 O’Neill’s soccer balls, 10 hurleys and 10 sliothars from Allianz, who according to Mr. MacThiarnain was a “giant help”.
“This is Allianz Cumann after mBunscol week this week. We hope to also come out for sports days, soccer flash and swing skills days and they love it, ”he said.
They [Ukrainian schoolchildren] can not wait to get their hands on the throw and they can not believe that we give them a stick … It is very encouraging to see them out and play, because children are children. It doesn’t matter where they come from or what language they speak, they like to play with balls and run around and be a part of something. ”
The Allianz Cumann after mBunscol week started in June 2020, focusing on supporting Gaelic games and related activities in schools when due to the pandemic it was not possible for teams to go to the field.
This year, about 2,000 schools are participating in local GAA activities and competitions across the country, while the Allianz Cumann took place after mBunscol schools’ slingshot final last week in Croke Park on June 7 and 8.
Religion and Education Client Relations Manager at Allianz Alan Black said: “Sport has always been such an important vehicle for integration, and GAA activities are often at the forefront of inclusion in our local communities. That’s why Allianz, through our work with Cumann after mBunscol, is delighted to sponsor this donation of sports equipment to schools across the country. We hope that it will facilitate the integration of these children into the school and the wider community through participation in Gaelic Games. ”
Meanwhile, Cumann chairman Joe Lyons, who has been involved with the organization for 40 years, said the new initiative would especially support Ukrainian schoolchildren based in some of the more remote parts of the country.
“If a new child enters a school and they may be shy or a little tentative or nervous, if you enter through a ball and they start playing with other children, they settle in immediately. This is the best social way of integration I know. It’s super, ”he said.
“There are some areas that have had a huge impact on Ukrainian children, I read somewhere about a school that got a 50pc increase in their enrollment, so it’s a great opportunity to teach those children how to integrate by hitting a ball. “