Nowhere in Ukraine is safe from the threat of Russian missiles, but Kharkiv’s location 21 miles from the border with Russia makes it especially vulnerable. City authorities are working to keep the city alive as Russia slowly tries to kill it.
As the start of the school year approached, officials considered how to provide schooling for the 57,000 children still living in Kharkiv. Few schools had bomb shelters strong enough to risk holding classes there. The subway seemed like the best solution.
However,These are the brave Ukrainian children going to school underground – to stay safe from Russian bombardments.
Thousands of kids aged six to 16 learn in converted metro stations protected from the carnage above ground.
Teacher Olenna Volodomyr talks about her experience underground, and say that it is actually better than the kids having to learn online amid the threat posed to Ukraine.(Credit: Peter Jordan)
Five underground schools have opened in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, just 15 miles from the border with Russia.
Teacher Olenna Volodomyr said: “It is strange having classes underground, but it is the only way to teach face to face.“It is much better for the children.
“The children feel safe here, we feel safe here and the parents feel better because they know their children are safe.”
Although,Kharkiv repelled a tank assault on the first day of the war in 2022 and it has faced a furious barrage of rockets, airstrikes and artillery ever since.At one point 160,000 people lived in the city’s underground stations when the bombing was at its worst.
For most of the past two years since President Putin unleashed his bloodbath invasion, Olenna taught her pupils online.But she said it was “ten times” harder than it was teaching remotely in Covid, as frequent air raid sirens forced pupils to dash for cover.
Now her underground lessons are rarely disturbed, except by the muted rumble of metro trains, hidden by newly built classroom walls.
So now Acquisition of knowledge goes underground till further notes to ensure the safety of the Pupils and any unexpected Russia Bombs explosions.
