70% of Ukrainian schools reopen in person despite wartime risks
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More than 8,000 schools in Ukraine will resume in-person classes on September 1 (Photo: Suspilne)
More than 8,000 schools across Ukraine will operate in person starting Sept. 1, according to the Ministry of Education and Science.
Over 8,000 schools (about 70%) will hold in-person classes, while another 2,211 (about 19%) will use a mixed format. Remote learning will be organized at 1,306 institutions (11%).
The ministry said the format for each school is determined based on the local security situation and the availability of bomb shelters, with the goal of keeping children within the education system regardless of where they live.
This year, more than 3.5 million students are starting the school year across 11,940 schools, including 243,398 first-graders.
Ukraine's 11,622 pre-school institutions will also open Sept. 1: 9,301 (80%) in person, 1,111 (9.6%) in a mixed format, and 1,210 (10.4%) remotely.
More than 80% of pre-schools operating in person or in mixed format have shelters located directly on-site or within 100 meters.
On Sept. 1 — Ukraine's Day of Knowledge, marking the start of the school year — as schools in Kyiv and the surrounding region held opening ceremonies and classes, Russian forces attacked the capital and the oblast. Air defenses were activated in Kyiv in response to an attack by jet-powered attack drones. One of the drones struck a high-rise residential building in the capital's Podilskyi district. Speaking to journalists during a school visit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted emotionally to the attack on the first day of the school year.
"There's another alert right now, unfortunately. The Russkis are just complete scumbags," Zelenskyy told journalists.
“The first of September... children... You know, even among enemies there's usually some understanding that children are children. But the Russians make children participants in the war. They've done it, they've been doing it... and they'll keep doing it until they're put in their place.”
Overnight into Sept. 1, Russia carried out a massive combined strike on Kyiv city and oblast. The missiles used included Zircon, Iskander, S-400 and Kalibr systems. In the capital, a railway depot in the Darnytskyi district and a high-rise residential building were damaged, while in Boryspil, in Kyiv Oblast, residential buildings, businesses and infrastructure facilities were hit. According to preliminary data, 12 people were killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
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