A Kharkiv, the second largest city in eastern Ukraine, plans are underway to build the country’s first entirely underground school. This innovative approach is aimed at allowing Ukrainian children to continue their education despite the ongoing war launched by Russia on February 24, 2022. According to UNICEF, the war has so far destroyed over 1,300 school buildings, with 3,417 educational facilities being damaged by Russian bombings and over 360 completely destroyed, according to the Ukrainian government.
Due to the constant Russian attacks, only one-third of school-age children have been able to attend in-person classes. UNICEF highlighted that many of these children have struggled to retain what they have learned due to the lack of continuity in their education. However, the underground school in Kharkiv will provide a safe haven for thousands of children, enabling them to continue their education in person, even during missile threats, as announced by the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, without specifying the construction timeline or the capacity of the structure. The mayor assured that funding for education will not be cut, with pride stating that “Kharkiv is the most intelligent city in Ukraine.”
While many Ukrainian schools have resorted to remote learning to reach as many students as possible safely, Kharkiv has created about sixty classrooms in subway stations before the start of the school year on September 1, making it possible for over a thousand children to study there. “Lessons in the subway. Could anyone have imagined Ukrainian children studying in the subway? Yet, this is our reality now,” said Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Moreover, as explained by Education Minister Oksen Lisovyi, 84 percent of schools in Ukraine now have operational shelters. The benefits extend beyond in-person learning. Mariia Doloban, a 32-year-old mother with an eight-year-old son, shared that her son Oleksii “didn’t always have the opportunity to reach an air raid shelter” when studying online. However, now that he has started the school year at a school in Kiev equipped with a real air raid shelter, Doloban affirms that he “will be able to take cover every time the air raid siren sounds.”
“In Ukraine, attacks on schools have continued relentlessly, leaving children deeply distressed and without safe spaces to learn,” UNICEF reported. Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, added that this situation “not only forces Ukrainian children to struggle to advance in their education but also makes it difficult for them to retain what they have learned when their schools were fully functional.”
The difficulty in accessing education for Ukrainian children extends beyond their country’s borders and the war on the ground. According to UNICEF, over half of those who managed to flee the conflict are not enrolled in the public schools of the host country. This is due to education systems that fail to meet the needs of Ukrainian children and linguistic barriers that pose further obstacles to learning.