The War’s Dangerous Impact on Education in Ukraine
Education in Ukraine and its challenges during the war
3798 educational institutions were damaged as a result of the aggressive war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and 365 of them were entirely demolished.
Russia states that it targets exclusively military facilities in Ukraine, but in severe reality, they destroy Ukrainian schools, universities, and kindergartens. It throws a challenge to Ukrainian children and the educational system in general.
Ukrainian children abroad keep up with their studies in Ukraine
Ukrainian children have already paid a high price in this war, their right to education in their homeland was violated. A lot of children left Ukraine with their parents, some of them continued their studies remotely in their schools but some Ukrainian children proceeded with their education abroad in various parts of the world. Thanks to measures taken by The Ministry of Education and Since of Ukraine children abroad have access to textbooks, electronic applications, and a large number of video materials on topics from the school curriculum. It is essential for Ukrainian children to maintain a strong connection to their homeland, preserve their cultural identity, and keep their native language alive. Currently, 400 thousands of children abroad continue their studies remotely in Ukraine.
The government wants to resume offline studies for children in Ukraine.
Despite the ongoing war The Ukrainian Government wants to resume offline schooling bringing students back to school.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, all school studies in Ukraine have been remote. Around 600 thousands of children in Ukraine are on remote studies. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine names remote studies one of the biggest challenges for the country. It creates the next issues:
- prevents children from socializing and developing soft skills;
- during power outages, students are unable to study or do not have the necessary devices for lessons at all;
- inability to monitor all online homeschoolers to take shelter during air raids.
Returning to the offline school will reduce these risks. The Government to provide infrastructural solutions like building shelters and transportation to secure children's safety during their stay in schools.
Many schools and other educational institutions were damaged
A staggering number of damaged schools is another huge challenge for the educational system of Ukraine. As for the September 2024 Russia damaged 3778 educational institutions, 1600 of them are schools. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, every seventh school in Ukraine was damaged, almost 400 of them completely destroyed.
In the conditions of the protracted war, the Government managed to restore schools and university buildings in the areas distanced from the frontline. Thus so far in Kyiv oblast 210 educational institutions have been repaired, 30 are in the process of restoration.
However in general the current situation for the Educational system in Ukraine remains challenging and complex, especially in the parts of Ukraine in the proximity to the frontline and within range of Russian ballistic threats.