Full-time education underground: new schools are opening in frontline regions

The Ukrainian government plans to establish a new education network to resume in-person learning in safe conditions, even in regions close to the front line. As part of this initiative, construction of about 200 underground schools has begun.

Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov announced the plans during the Education for a New Ukraine forum in Kyiv, emphasizing the importance of student safety.

Fedorov noted that the proposed model involves not only building shelters in educational institutions but also improving the logistics system, including the use of school buses to transport children to safe educational spaces.

Evgeny Kudryavets, First Deputy Minister of Education, reported that 15 of the 200 underground schools already planned have been completed. He emphasized that these structures will have a dual purpose, including remaining useful after the war ends.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal added that by the end of the year, the construction of more than 180 such schools will be completed. According to him, today, 80% of Ukrainian schools already have shelters of various types.

According to Kudryavts, as part of the large-scale educational transformation, it is planned to create more than 100 modern STEM laboratories, 210 new catering units, and almost a thousand centers for studying the subject “Defense of Ukraine.”

In total, UAH 22.5 billion has been allocated for education reform in 2024–2025, which is a record amount, as noted in the Ministry of Education.

At the same time, Oleksiy Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, informed that the register of educational facilities damaged as a result of the war includes more than 4 thousand schools, which is more than 10% of the entire educational infrastructure, of which only a little more than 10% has been restored.

According to the State Statistics Service, at the beginning of the 2024/2025 academic year, 12.3 thousand secondary education institutions operated in Ukraine.

It is also worth noting that the tender for the construction of a shelter for “Universum” was won by the capital’s company “Pobudova,” which offered the highest price.