- Finally, but unfortunately, we have lost a whole year without good opportunities to learn the language, says Olexandra Yeremenko, a refugee from Ukraine.
Ukrainian refugees are covered by the mass migration directive and this means, among other things, that they are not entitled to state-funded SFI.
In November 2022, the municipality of Växjö started its investment in Swedish education for Ukrainians thanks to funds granted by the Council for the European Social Fund, the EFS Council.
The message then was that Ukrainians would receive certificates, but not grades, like all other people attending SFI tuition, which created great disappointment among the Ukrainian refugees.
SFI and rating also for Ukrainians
Now the municipality of Växjö will make new announcements and the committee for work and welfare will make a decision on Wednesday that Ukrainians should also be graded according to SFI.
One of the reasons is that the teaching is financed by EU money.
- It is not government money that we use, which gives us greater room for maneuver and enables us to make our own decisions.
We have also checked with the Swedish National Agency for Education, which sees no obstacles to us giving grades to Ukrainians, says Håkan Nilsson, project manager for Kronoberg Care's EFS.
- It hasn't been so easy to integrate so far, but now I'm happy.
It feels like we are starting to get into the system, says Olexandra Yeremenko.
A total of 87 Ukrainian refugees in Växjö, Ljungby, Älmhult and Uppvidinge municipalities participate in the project.