The basement of an administrative building in Bobryk, a small village in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region close to the front line, was never designed as a school but it now houses several small classrooms divided by heavy plastic sheets. One school has moved all its lessons underground but the decision was taken two years ago when air raid sirens sometimes lasted 20 hours a day.It ensures that students, who are already disrupted by Covid-19 lockdowns, can continue learning in person despite the constant threat of strikes. As the new academic year begins across Ukraine, many children are starting school not in bright classrooms filled with sunlight but in makeshift basements, adapted to shield them from Russian attacks.The once damp and dark space has been refurbished with ventilation, electricity and new flooring. Though there are no windows or doors, the sound of children reciting lessons together fills the underground halls. “We must do everything so this generation is not lost,” principal Oleksii Korenivskyi told Associated Press (AP). “Time is the only thing you cannot make up. This is our future, and we must give it everything we have.”
A school beneath the surface
On Monday, students arrived in embroidered vyshyvanka shirts, carrying flowers for their teachers. This is a cherished Ukrainian tradition for the first day of school. With a population of just 2,000, Bobryk has a small school of about 100 students but since Russia’s full-scale invasion, around 10% of families have left and each departure is felt deeply. This year, only seven children sat in the first-grade classroom.During the first lesson, a teacher pointed to a map of Ukraine, which was shown complete without any occupied territories. She explained to her students, “Our region is next to Russia. That’s why it’s so hard, why they bomb us so often—because we are close to this difficult neighbour.” Referring to Russia, Oleksii said, “Unfortunately, this ‘neighbour’ isn’t going anywhere” but he stressed that the effort to build a safe learning space had been worth it.The school operates in two shifts with shortened breaks since the underground space is limited. The original schoolhouse was a beautiful 20th-century building but it now remains empty, waiting for the day students can safely return.Seven-year-old Eva Tui, now in her third year of underground schooling, still remembers her old classroom just 400 meters away. “We’re here because it’s wartime and there are a lot of sirens,” she explained. Despite the cramped setting, she confessed she was too excited to sleep the night before the school year began.Her wish for this year is simple: “To go back to the classroom. It feels more like home.” Her bigger dream? “For the war to end.”
Childhood interrupted
Among those preparing to leave is 15-year-old Vlada Mykhailyk, who will soon move to Austria with her younger brother. “We live well but sometimes it’s sad. We often hear Shaheds [drones] and explosions,” she said in an interaction with AP. “If you have to choose between online or in the basement, the basement is better.” Still, she admitted she would rather stay and finish school with her friends.For younger students, the war is not always the first thing on their minds. When one teacher asked her class about summer holidays, the children eagerly spoke of bike rides, helping parents and meeting new friends. Then a small voice added, “A Shahed drone was intercepted above us and there were fragments.”“All this is because of the war,” the teacher responded softly.(With inputs from Associated Press)
