War in Ukraine: bunker, underground school… how the country continues to provide education for students under bombs ?
Les élèves dont le couloir de l'école souterraine à Kharkiv. MAXPPP – Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy
Si les bombardements russes continuent de cibler Kharkiv, ville située à seulement plusieurs dizaines de kilomètres de la frontière, la municipalité a décidé de maintenir les cours pour les enfants et a trouvé une solution pour les assurer.
Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine, but it is also only about thirty kilometers from the Russian border. Since the start of the conflict in February 2022, it has been targeted almost daily by Vladimir Putin's army, which makes life impossible for Ukrainian civilians. Nevertheless, the municipality decided to open schools, adapted to the war, in order to provide lessons for the children.
Several meters underground
If the alarm sirens sound every day in Kharkiv and the Russian bombings target the city which is located in the west of the country, you have to go down several meters deep to discover these schools of another kind, indicates West France, between 6 and 10 meters more precisely.
This underground building, which resembles a bunker, has a long corridor lit by halogens, and several dozen classrooms, without windows. The capacity is 450 students in one team. "We plan to study in two teams for 900 children"< /em>, underlines Olena Zbytska, head of the education department of the city of Kharkiv, quoted by the French media. Note that the establishment receives hundreds of applications.
"I'm less afraid"
If this new establishment allows students to find some of their classmates in safety, fear is felt. "I suffer from ’ anxiety with all these sirens and attacks. But I must not show it to the children. Especially not. So, I smile, and I smile even more, so that here, they feel safe and happy", breathes a teacher who testified to RTL.
The calm of the teacher is meant to be reassuring according to the words of a young 9-year-old student, named Anya. "I know there were ten explosions the other day, and we didn’not notice anything" , she explains. "I’m less afraid. I know that if there are Russian bombings, I won't risk anything here because it's very solid", says another.
Hundreds of schools destroyed
For those who can benefit from the courses, following what they are taught is difficult. "Many children suffer from cost-traumatic syndrome and many children are also anxious", explains Marina Prepotchka, psychologist at the’ establishment in Kharkiv. "It is difficult for them to study, they do not sleep" because of the daily alerts, she adds.
Since the start of the war, many schools have been affected, forcing thousands of children to no longer go to class. In total, "nearly 400 schools were destroyed in bombings and one in seven establishments was damaged", note West France. Other underground schools are under construction in the country.
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