Ukraine’s Deputy Education Minister says one in seven schools in the country have been damaged as a result of the large-scale invasion. More than 3,500 educational centers have suffered some type of destruction and almost 400 have been completely destroyed.
The first underground school is being built in the city of Zaporizhia, southern Ukraine, where children are expected to be able to attend in-person classes in the fall. The school, with capacity for 500 studentsis being built almost seven meters underground.
The new underground school is being built to accommodate students from two nearby schools, so classes will be taught in two shifts. In the nearby underground school number 88, a third radiation shelterwhich will also function as a classroom for offline learning.
“Our school is the only one in this neighborhood, There is no other alternative for children to turn to.. Parents have responded very well, but some are still thinking about whether it is necessary or not,” says director Liudmyla Zlatova.
While some parents are wary of sending their children to school in a country at war, others say it is important to maintain a sense of normality. “We were very happy and the children too, they miss the live communication. Nowadays, Children’s eyesight deteriorates because they are constantly sitting in front of the computer and their eyes do not rest,” says Liubov Pashina, mother of one of the students at School Number 88.
The governor of the Zaporizhia oblast, Ivan Fedorov, declared last month that They will build ten underground schools throughout the region, five of which are already under construction and are expected to open by the end of the year. “We are on track to begin the educational process in the new underground schools in the fall,” he stated.
Schools underground to return to normal
It has been more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and, in that time, civilian infrastructure, including schools have been the target of repeated attacks.
And of all the conflict zones in Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia is of particular importance. There is found the largest nuclear power plant in Europewhich Russian forces seized shortly after the invasion.
They have occupied it ever since and, although It has been out of service since 2022the fighting around the plant has set off alarm bells throughout Europe and many fear that a major nuclear catastrophe will occur.
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned against fighting in and around the plant, and its director, Rafael Grossi, In April he described drone attacks as “reckless”.
Last month, Human Rights Watch stated in its report “Education under Occupation” that the Russian invasion had “subjected the ukrainian educational system under enormous pressure.
The report stated that Ukrainian national and local education authorities, with the support of Ukrainian civil society and international donors, had taken “innovative measures to provide education“.
Among them, the expansion of the online study plan, in force since the coronavirus pandemic. According to the report, it now includes “10,000 video lessons covering the fifth to eleventh grade curriculum“.
One in seven schools in Ukraine has been damaged as a result of the large-scale invasion. More than 3,500 educational centers have suffered some type of destruction, and almost 400 have been completely destroyed“, stated in February Yevhen Kudriavets, Deputy Minister of Education of Ukraine.
He stated that attacks on educational infrastructure violate the rights of children to education and impact the quality of teaching, socialization and social integration.
And World Bank reportl published in February amounted to 411,000 million dollars (378,000 million euros) the cost of recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine in the next decade.
