The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today, Tuesday, that ongoing attacks on Ukrainian schools have enabled only about one-third of school-aged children to attend classes fully and in person, while many others are absent. UNICEF stated that more than half of the children whose families fled the conflict to seven other countries are not registered in local education systems, citing language barriers and overloaded education systems.
The organization added, “Within Ukraine, attacks on schools have relentlessly continued, exposing children to severe hardships and leaving them without safe places to learn.” It noted that the war has come on the heels of previous disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic, meaning that some Ukrainian children will be facing educational interruptions for the fourth consecutive year when they return to school this week after the summer break.
Regina De Dominicis, the regional director for Europe and Central Asia at UNICEF, said, "Ukrainian children are not only struggling to continue their education due to this situation, but they are also finding it difficult to retain what they have learned when their schools were fully operational.” She added that about half of the teachers in Ukraine reported a decline in students' abilities to learn languages, reading, and mathematics.
Some schools have been directly targeted, and other schools have closed their doors as a precaution since the onset of the Russian invasion 18 months ago, which has included missile and artillery attacks on residential areas across the country.
