Ukrainian children started their second school year during the war today, with some heading to new underground classrooms while others remained ready to run to shelters to protect themselves from Russian missiles and drones. Many Ukrainian students, both inside and outside the country, have been studying online for the fourth year as the Russian invasion and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their educational opportunities. According to data from UNICEF, Russian airstrikes have completely destroyed 1,300 schools since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. UNICEF has tracked damage to many other schools as well.
This week, Education Minister Oksen Lisovyi stated that 84 percent of schools are now equipped with usable shelters. Maria Doluban, 32, said her son Oleksii, who is eight years old, is starting the school year in a new school in the capital, Kyiv, which is equipped with a bomb shelter. She noted, “When he was studying online, there wasn’t always an opportunity to reach a bomb shelter.” She added, “But in school, he will hide every time the air raid siren goes off.” Doluban was one of millions of refugees who fled Ukraine but returned like many others. She expressed feeling better in her homeland compared to abroad, where children studied remotely or struggled to adapt in local schools.
In Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, where a missile from Russia can arrive in under a minute, authorities had to find a way to get children back to school. Classes were set up in Soviet-era underground subway stations in the city. Ihor Terekhov, the city mayor, mentioned that over 1,000 students would be able to attend in person in 60 classrooms, a development welcomed by many parents. Irina Loboda, on the streets of Kharkiv with her school-age son, said that students “will be able to mix with each other there, find a common language, and communicate.” However, the plan is not supported by everyone. Tatiana Bondar, a mother of children herself, stated, “The safety of children comes first... My children will study online, even though our school provided a bus to take children to the subway stations' tunnels.”
