<\/p>\n
A Ukrainian refugee has been forced to drop out of sixth-form college after she said she was put under pressure to study Russian.<\/p>\n
Kateryna Endeberia moved to Stoke-on-Trent<\/a> after fleeing Ukraine in 2022, after the start of Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n She took her GCSEs at The Excel Academy in 2023 before completing a foundation year at City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College (SFC) and then studying economics, politics and statistics for one year.<\/p>\n But the 19-year-old said that when she ran into difficulty with her subjects, teachers tried to persuade her to study Russian instead.<\/p>\n As her father is a Ukrainian soldier, she felt this would be a traumatising experience, and that the request was \u201churtful and insensitive\u201d and akin to \u201cdiscrimination and racism\u201d.<\/p>\n Endeberia has since dropped out of SFC, and is instead studying at home using notes shared by friends. She has applied to sit A-level exams as a private candidate in 2026, at a cost of \u00a31,400.<\/p>\n She told the Guardian that studying Russian was \u201cagainst my personal principle because I was born [in Donetsk] where the war started in 2014. It\u2019s not a language I want to speak or study because my father became a soldier last year\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI am truly grateful for the opportunity to study in the United Kingdom \u2013 it feels like my third home [after Ukraine<\/a> and the Czech Republic, where she initially moved]. But not everyone realises how challenging it can be for Ukrainian students to adapt to a new education system, culture and language after everything our country has gone through.\u201d<\/p>\n Endeberia said she struggled on her A-level courses and felt she was being bullied because of her accent. She claims the college did not provide her with extra support but instead tried to persuade her to take up A-level Russian.<\/p>\n \u201cRather than offering empathy or help, they continued to insist that I change subjects. No one tried to understand how painful this experience was for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said she had struggled to obtain \u201cclear answers\u201d about why she has been prevented from pursuing politics, economics and statistics, and is pursuing a complaints process through Potteries Educational Trust, which oversees SFC. She plans to escalate the case to Ofsted once this is completed.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College said: \u201cThe college cares deeply about our students and every effort is made to resolve issues and complaints in accordance with our complaints and resolution process. We do not comment on individuals for reasons of confidentiality.\u201d<\/p>\n