″The best thing for them is to live with other children and teachers″

There are more than five thousand minors who fled the war to Portugal. Enrollments of Ukrainian refugee students in Portuguese schools reach 300.

He retreated with his own son on one hand and that of a friend in the other. Mariia Kolomiichenko’s escape from Ukraine with two boys aged nine and 10 took 30 hours, but even the wear and tear led her to postpone the registration of the three with the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF). He did so shortly after arriving in Gaia, where a sister lives, in order to enroll the children. It was Friday. The following Monday, the return to “normal life” knocked at the door: there was a school ready to receive them.

Roman Kolomiichenko, nine, and Tymotii Kosinov, 10, are among the 300 Ukrainian refugee children and young people enrolled in Portuguese schools to date. But, according to the latest update made by the SEF, the Russian invasion has already brought at least 5242 children under 17 to Portugal. The actual number will be much higher.