1 / 6Across Ukraine, students are returning to school for a new academic year, many carrying flowers and gifts for their teachers. Pictured above are young military cadets at a ceremony marking the start of term. (Image: Reuters)
2 / 6In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, around 17,000 children will continue their studies. The image above, taken in April, shows a young girl entering a newly opened underground school in the Osnovyansky district. Reuters reported that two such facilities, built three floors below ground, have been constructed to make education as safe as possible. In a country at war, the deeper the school, the greater the protection for children and teachers if an attack occurs. (Image: Reuters)
3 / 6A class in session in the basement of a municipal building in Bobryk, a village in northern Sumy region near the frontline, AP reported. Lessons were moved underground to shield pupils from the constant interruptions of air raid sirens. The school’s enrolment, once around 100 students, is reportedly dwindling rapidly. (AP Photo)
4 / 6For most children, the disruption to education caused by more than three years of Russian attacks follows directly after earlier interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We must do everything so this generation is not lost,” Oleksii Korenivskyi, principal of the school in Bobryk, told AP. (Image: AP)
5 / 6According to AP, there remains at least some semblance of normalcy in classrooms, with children speaking about their summer holidays — from bike rides and helping parents with household chores to spending time with friends. (Image: AP)
6 / 6“We expected things to get better, but we did not hope for a fully fledged peace… Nor did we expect to return to traditional, physical schooling, because we are realistic. We understand the situation, and we do not build illusions,” said Anastasia Pochergina, who this year enrolled her child in Year One for the first time, in an interview with Reuters. (Image: AP)
