A new report from Save the Children, a U.S-based humanitarian organization, found an average of four preschools a day have been damaged or destroyed in the war in Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion in February, 2,177 education facilities have been damaged, and 284 have been destroyed, according to the Ministry of Education and Science. "It reaffirmed that we must do school online." "I was scared, but now I'm angry," says Yana Tsyhanenko, the head of school, who was in another part of the building during the attack. The cheerfully-painted multicolor steps they were standing on collapsed, and their blood still stains the concrete. They're now both in the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries. The two teacher assistants were badly injured in the blast. The shelling damaged classrooms and shattered school windows. On that day in late August, two teacher assistants stepped outside to take out the trash when the kindergarten was rocked by an explosion. Bottom right: Blood stains remain on the stairs a day after the shelling. Bottom left: Flowers were placed on the stairs where two teaching assistants were injured. Top: A kindergarten in Kharkiv that was recently hit by shelling. "Usually the streets are filled with children and families going to school," she says, "but this morning it was just us." After more than six months of staying close to home and rarely seeing friends, the start of school offers a bit of the familiar.īut even walking to school this morning wasn't as normal as Shtefan thought it would be. Both mom and daughter have been looking forward to this day - to coming to school - for months. Her husband, a doctor, is in the armed forces and away from home.
Watching them hold hands, reunited, Varya's mother, Alina Shtefan, remarked that the moment almost felt normal - when so much isn't normal. The friends hadn't seen each other since school shut down in February, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Two older students, Mariia and Varya, both 9, watch from a shared chair in the corner, holding hands and giggling. Because of the war, this is one of just a handful of schools in the city offering in-person classes. Older students cheer while families try and catch every moment on their phones. Parents Kseniia and Oleksandr Dryha say goodbye to their daughter, Kateryna, on her first day at a private school in Dnipro.Īt a small private school in the city of Dnipro, the day starts with a teacher leading each new first-grader through a hula hoop decorated with ribbons and leaves - initiating them into their school-aged life.
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