Yaroslav Taranets, a legal analyst of the CF “East SOS,” took part in a press conference on the challenges faced by TOT entrants
Over 1.6 million children currently reside in Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by the russian federation, yet those seeking to pursue higher education on government-controlled land face significant challenges due to the absence of a comprehensive admission mechanism.
This issue was highlighted during a briefing by Yaroslav Taranets, a legal analyst at the “East SOS” Charity Foundation, Valentina Potapova, head of national advocacy at the “Almenda” Civic Education Center, Violeta Artemchuk, coordinator-director of “Donbas SOS,” and Anastasia Kalinina, a lawyer from “Crimea SOS.”
Students from occupied territories encounter numerous obstacles, including:
- Lack of proper preparation for the National Multidisciplinary Test (NMT) based on the Ukrainian curriculum.
- Border crossing difficulties, including lack of transportation routes and unjustified refusals by russian and Belarusian border officials.
- Absence of Ukrainian passports.
- Challenges in identity verification for those leaving occupied areas (such as obtaining or renewing passports, which requires time and effort at any branch of the State Migration Service).
- Financial difficulties due to the lack of official Ukrainian documents.
- Inability to find employment, rent housing officially, and more.
Yaroslav Taranets from “East SOS” emphasized the need for a state program that includes a series of adaptation measures and assigns responsibility to a specific governmental body or department.
“The first element of the program should be psychological support because without it, navigating the bureaucratic procedures is incredibly difficult even for adults, let alone teenagers. They need to feel safe and know that there are people here who will take care of them,” Taranets stated.
One of the key recommendations from experts is the development of a comprehensive state policy to support young people relocating from the temporarily occupied territories.
This advocacy effort is part of the “Support for War-Affected Vulnerable Groups and Residents of Remote Areas of Ukraine” program, implemented by “East SOS” with financial backing from the European Union.
