Ukrainian schoolgirl wins pan-European drawing contest

Over 50 thousand children from 61 countries submitted their dra­wings for the “Once upon a time there was a girl and a boy; together they wanted to make the world a better place” contest, which is held annually by the European Union. Ukrainian children we­re some of the most active partici­pants, with over 2,500 students taking part! One of the 14 winners of the drawing contest on the theme of gender equality was Olha Chumachenko, a 5th grade student of the specialized secon­dary school No. 2, town of Ka­khovka. The only other winner was a girl from Mace­donia. The nine-year-old winner’s award ceremony was held at her home school’s premises. Olha was welcomed by the school’s Euroclub’s members, repre­sentatives of the European Union and local authorities. As a present, the girl received a computer, office equip­ment for printing, scanning, co­pying, and a certificate for an English learning program. Con­currently, Olena Bila, the coach of the joint EU and UN Development Programme project “Equal Oppor­tunities and Women’s Rights in Ukraine,” conducted an open inter­active lesson on gender equality. By the way, such lessons will be inte­grated into the curricula of Uk­rainian schools. Ms. Bila is deeply convinced that “gender stereotypes arise at an early age and affect society as a whole. Teaching children about gender equality helps girls and boys understand the other’s personality and treat everyone with respect and tolerance.”