13-year-old Uliana is completing geometry homework before catching the afternoon school bus to Lyceum #1, which was running late due to an air raid siren. Uliana lives with her mother, younger brother and a cat in a rented house in Hostomel while her stepfather fights on the frontline. The family fled their home in Zaporizhzhia due to missile attacks and moved to Hostomel, a city east of Kyiv, which itself was recovering from Russia¡¯s occupation in the early days of the war.
"After a long period of online learning, the opportunity to study with peers and new teachers and attend school in person helped Uliana adapt here," says her mother, Yevheniia.
Hostomel Lyceum #1 has 1,800 students, including 150 displaced children like Uliana and another 700 children directly affected by the war. The school operates in two shifts to accommodate all students.
"Our lyceum has many children who survived occupation, whose homes were destroyed, or who relocated from occupied regions. They experience anxiety and fear air raid alerts," says Nataliia Pryshchepa, Uliana¡¯s math teacher. "They need support from friends, classmates, and teachers. Creating a safe environment is crucial."
The neighborhood was shelled during the occupation. While surrounding houses still bear bullet holes and shell fragments, the school was renovated with help from donors and the community, and a bomb shelter was built. Students returned to in-person learning in fall 2022, though air raid sirens still regularly interrupt classes.
"When an air raid alert goes off during a lesson, we go down to the shelter," says Pryshchepa. "Each class has its allocated space there, and we continue the educational process in a safe place.¡±
Across Ukraine, 3,373 educational institutions have been damaged, including 385 destroyed, accounting for more than 10 percent of the education infrastructure at a cost of $13.4 billion, according to the latest .
As of December 2024, 741,000 children were studying in a hybrid format, combining in-person and remote learning because their schools lack bomb shelters, while another 443,000 were learning entirely online in areas under active hostilities.
Pryshchepa recalls the challenges of resuming education when the school reopened.
"During the occupation, children missed a significant amount of learning. When people evacuated, they left textbooks and devices behind so there wasn't even an opportunity to conduct online lessons," says Pryshchepa. "When we returned to teaching, it was extremely challenging to catch up on the material students had missed."
The impact of war on education was immediate. Just eight months into the war, Ukrainian students already had showed a decline in learning comparable to two years of missed school, according to a (PISA) survey conducted in October 2022. Learning losses have only increased since then.
In-person learning continues with the help of LEARN
In-person learning in Ukraine continues despite challenges, thanks to the determination of the government and financial support from international donors, delivered through the World Bank. This also helps the Ministry of Education and Science attract technical assistance, global experience, and knowledge.
The (LEARN) program is addressing the immediate impact of the war - improving school safety conditions, providing free transportation for vulnerable students, training teachers, and purchasing textbooks. All this effort is part of the country¡¯s ongoing modernization reform, known as the ¡°New Ukrainian School¡±.
One significant achievement has been providing new textbooks to 400,000 students nationwide.
