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.”
