The new academic year began on September 2: Ukrainian schoolchildren continue to study in war conditions

Every new school year in Ukraine is more than just a return to school. While children around the world are gathering for lessons, Ukrainian schoolchildren will be studying in war conditions for the third year in a row. Every day they face challenges that are hard to imagine: from alarms and shelters to studying in conditions of constant danger in underground schools. But despite all the difficulties, children and teachers continue to learn and teach, showing incredible resilience and courage. This academic year will be another stage in this struggle for knowledge and the future, where education becomes not just a right, but a symbol of indomitability.

On September 2, a new academic year began in Ukrainian schools, which will last until June 30, 2025. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine emphasizes that regional military administrations and school founders must provide the necessary conditions for the beginning of the academic year depending on the security situation in the regions. Schools must ensure a balance between the learning process and students’ rest, and at least 30 days must be allocated for vacations during the school year. Such flexibility will allow general secondary education institutions (GSEs) to adapt to the challenges of wartime and guarantee high quality education for each student. According to the recommendations of the Ministry of Education and Culture, in the current conditions of war, full-time education with the possibility of transition to a mixed format remains relevant for Ukrainian schools. Mixed education combines face-to-face (full-time) and distance learning. At the same time, the shift schedule can change: for example, one week after another week or one day after another. Each educational institution independently determines the sequence of mixed education and records it in its schedule.

The state budget for 2024 provides 2.5 billion hryvnias for the construction of school shelters. The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine noted that these funds were allocated for preparation for the school year, in particular for creating safe conditions in schools. The Prime Minister reported that 235 shelters have already been built in schools at the expense of the state subvention provided to communities.

Also, the Ministry of Finance reports that the state budget for 2024 foresees additional expenses for education. In particular, 103.2 billion hryvnias were allocated for teachers’ salaries through educational subvention to communities. 7 billion hryvnias are planned for the purchase of equipment and training of teachers for teaching the subject “Defense of Ukraine”. 1 billion hryvnias have been earmarked for the purchase of school buses, and 1.4 billion hryvnias for the purchase of modern teaching aids for the New Ukrainian School. In addition, 100 million hryvnias have been allocated for upgrading the qualifications of teachers of the New Ukrainian School, 500 million hryvnias for equipping educational and practical centers of professional education, and another 300 million hryvnias for ensuring quality education for children with special educational needs.

From February 2024, the government plans to launch a new educational application “Mriya”, which will contain a library of necessary content, information about educational programs, courses, extracurricular activities, Olympiads and clubs, as well as video materials. Also, the application will have an electronic student card “Dream-ID”, which will function similarly to the documents in the “Diya” application. The Ministry of Digital Transformation has already started testing the “Mriya” application in 40 schools in Kyiv and six oblasts. The testing process takes place in three stages: first, the functionality of the application is checked, then trainers teach teachers to use it, and in the third stage, the application is tested in real conditions during the school year.

Students participating in the testing have access to an electronic ticket, personal academic achievements, a class schedule, a list of tasks with deadlines, a library of content based on interests and chats based on Signal. Parents will be able to track their child’s progress, schedule, grades, homework, a library of recommended content, and join chats. Teachers will be able to create a calendar plan, schedule, keep a log, monitor homework and use a library of content for professional development.

Ukrainian schoolchildren will be able to learn with the help of modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Minecraft, thanks to the opening of 16 digital education centers in the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. These centers were created by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine together with international partners to ensure access to education in wartime conditions. The main goal of these centers is to provide education to 16,000 schoolchildren who do not have full access to offline education in frontline and de-occupied communities. Here, students will be able to use interactive case lessons, conduct laboratory work using VR and AR technologies, receive individual consultations through a special application, and also participate in entertainment and educational programs on the Minecraft platform.

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine announced an additional set of applications for receiving state subsidies for major repairs or construction of shelters in schools in five regions. The MES commission has already selected 50 projects for the repair and construction of shelters within the limits of the subvention, mostly in the front-line and border regions. According to the resolution of April 12, for each of the eight priority regions, the maximum amount of subvention for the provision of safe conditions in schools was determined. Communities that will not receive funds for the provision of safe educational spaces will be able to attract funding from other sources, for example, from international partners or donors.

From September 2, 5,800 Kharkiv schoolchildren will study in the combined format. This was reported by the mayor of the city Igor Terekhov.

“We will start classes in the metro school, we have equipped six metro stations. Last year we had five metro stations, now six will work. In addition, our underground school – the 88th lyceum of the city of Kharkiv, will also start classes, where they will have the opportunity to study more than 1000 students”, – Terekhov stated.

In preparation for the new academic year, 107 educational institutions of the Kyiv region are carrying out repair work in shelters, in particular, 25 institutions are carrying out capital repairs. The head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Roman Kravchenko, said that the communities promise to complete all current repairs before the beginning of the academic year. In the 2023/2024 academic year, the network of general secondary education institutions included 627 schools, of which almost 97% operated in the format of full-time or mixed education. The task for the 2024/2025 academic year is to provide full-time and mixed education in 100% of institutions.

In Kyiv region, out of 86 kindergartens damaged or destroyed as a result of Russian aggression, 71 institutions have been restored. In the Chernihiv region, a lyceum damaged by shelling was restored with Latvian funds, and in the Khmelnytskyi region, an after-school education center was opened, for the reconstruction of which more than 12 million hryvnias were allocated. In the Poltava region, the largest kindergarten in the Kolomatsk community is being restored, which will be able to accommodate 40 children and is being equipped with a shelter for 80 people. Almost 3,800 civilian objects, including houses, schools, kindergartens and health care facilities, have been rebuilt in the de-occupied Kherson region.