KHARKIV, Ukraine — Kharkiv City’s first underground school set to be built amid rising Missile threats from Russia. The school will enable learners to study even during Russian air strikes.
Plans are underway to build the fully-fledged underground school in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv. The construction would shield leaners from Russian air strikes and bomb attacks.
Most parts of Kharkiv City that is situated less than thirty five kilometers from the border of Russia and Ukraine, have been experiencing virtually daily Russian air strikes. The aerial attacks have disrupted learning in most schools.
“Such a shelter will allow thousands of children to continue their in-person education safely even during missile threats,” said Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
Several institutions in the frontline areas have been compelled to conduct online classes throughout the war. The City of Kharkiv has organized approximately sixty spread classrooms in its metro stations, which has created space to over 1000 learners.
Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, which had a population of over 1.4 million before Russia invasion in February 2022.
At the peak of the bomb attacks last year, 160,000 persons slept on the wide-open platforms and in the lofty corridors of the Kharkiv underground. Among those affected were nearly 7000 children.
“We did activities like playing and singing with them during that time – and, when this new school year was ahead of us, we wondered: what if we could do it again, but in a more organized way? New school would meet the most modern regulatory requirements for protective structures. Such a shelter will enable thousands of Kharkiv children to continue their safe face-to-face education even during missile threats” said Kharkiv’s head of education, Olha Demenko.
UNICEF – UN Agency estimates that only a third of Ukraine’s school-going children are presently studying physically. This comes amid sustained fierce Russian missile as well as drone strikes and shelling.
Several of the learners are subjected to attend lessons in underground metro points alongside other makeshift shelters – mostly without ideal heating and ventilation.
“Many schools in the 27-member bloc were struggling to integrate children who have fled the war in Ukraine,” said the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency.
Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager
