Ukraine: Back to school in a warzone

Summer vacation has ended in Ukraine and children are back to school. Near the front lines, classes are frequently held online or in hybrid sessions. In Kharkiv, authorities have made an effort to create safe classrooms in subway stations, where children can learn in a protected environment. This teacher is escorting a student to her underground classroom.

Approximately 3.7 million Ukrainian children and youth are going to school this year. Ukraine's president Volodomyr Zelenskyy has wished all students and teachers a successful new school year. "We are undertaking every effort to restore security in the country," he wrote on the short message platform X formerly known as Twitter.

A teacher welcomes her class back to school. Teachers have worked hard to make their classrooms look bright and cheerful, despite the gloomy circumstances. They want their students to enjoy a learning environment that is as peaceful and sheltered as possible.

Ihor Terekhov (left), the mayor of Kharkiv, stopped by to visit one of the underground classrooms his city had set up in a subway station. A total of 60 such rooms have been created, which have allowed some 1,000 children to go back to school and resume in-person lessons.

It's important for children to have the opportunity to learn together and consult their teachers directly. Schools in major cities have mostly had to hold lessons online. Kharkiv lies in eastern Ukraine, which makes authorities fear its schools could make an easy target.

"The children will be able to meet up, find a common language, have conversations," said the mother of one of the pupils visiting school in a subway station in the heart of Ukraine's second-largest city. "I fully support it," she added with a sigh of relief.

Once the school day has ended, pupils are shuttled home in busses, like this one waiting on a main square. This is a safe way to ferry children between the metro stations housing their classrooms, and their homes.