Children enter the bunker at the first underground school in Ukraine

The mother and daughter clattered, hand in hand, down the concrete staircase, through another blast door, and into the bunker for the first day of school. Two teachers greeted them with smiles at the steel door.

This week, hundreds of kids started classes at the nation’s first bunker school—a purpose-built facility located six meters (20 feet) below ground to shield them from Russian missile and drone threats.

The entrance to Kharkiv’s Primary School 155 is located on the pavement, within a little white concrete box. A corridor splits off into classrooms at the base of the steps. The hallways are painted lime green and white, and the rooms are well-lit despite the lack of windows.

Since Moscow’s assault was stopped at its ramparts 26 months ago, the second-biggest city in Ukraine, which is situated in the northeast of the nation close to the Russian border, has been the target of constant Russian attacks. As a Russian operation in the nearby countryside forced Ukrainian troops to retreat, the fighting has become closer and the airstrikes have become more frequent in recent weeks.

Nowadays, with the war, the majority of Kharkiv’s youngsters complete their schooling at home using a computer. The opportunity to attend a real lesson with a real live teacher and interact with other children in person excited Masha, 9, and her brother Oleksii, 6.

Their mother, Marina Prikhodko, stated, “My daughter, a third grader, could hardly wait to come, dress up for the occasion, and meet her friends that she missed very much.” “For my son, a first grader, it’s like a festive day, a chance to meet his classmates in real life, not online.”

The most recent rise in violence? “It is scary, yes,” she said. “But whatever happens, life goes on and we have to try and live here and now, every day.”

300 students have enrolled in the new school initially, but according to Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, that number will rise to 450 students every day in two shifts.
“We need to make sure that both teachers and students get accustomed to the school and hopefully from Sept. 1 there will be full complement of students,” he stated.

Several students celebrated the school’s launch on Monday by dressing in traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts, or “vyshyvanky”. Kids of various ages mixed in the hallways and took seats behind desks in large classrooms without windows. Juice boxes and hamburgers for lunch.

“It’s like day and night,” headmaster Ihor Voznyi remarked, drawing a comparison between the new school and the previous one’s challenges.

“There are no bomb shelters at our schools. There are subterranean areas like basements that are completely inappropriate for teaching. These areas are intended to offer high-quality, contemporary environments.”