ZAPORIZHZHIA: Sofia had hesitated to go back to her school in south Ukraine, afraid that “something might happen because of the war.”
Like hundreds of thousands of other children in her country, she has been learning remotely for years, first due to the coronavirus pandemic and then the risk of aerial attacks since Russia’s invasion.
But after spending a few hours in her new classrooms, seven meters underground in a brightly-lit anti-radiation bunker, the 12-year-old felt reassured.
“There won’t be any shrapnel, any strikes. I am safe,” she told AFP.
The Ukrainian government has been working to bring children like Sofia back to the classroom amid concerns that distance learning is having an impact on their education, three years into the war.
There were at least 576 attacks on educational facilities in Ukraine in 2024, a 96 percent increase compared to the year before, according to the UN.
Underground schools, like Sofia’s in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, allow students to return and socialize with their classmates while keeping them safe from attacks.
The children have adapted quickly, said Lidia Yeremenko, head of the Left Bank Education Department at Zaporizhzhia City Council.
“When they saw their peers, their eyes lit up. That was it, they forgot that there was a war going on,” she said.
Sofia also had a positive impression.
“I like the way it looks from the outside, because it seems that there is no school, everything is underground,” the shy pupil with big dark eyes told AFP.
The sky over Ukraine has become synonymous with danger since Russia invaded in February 2022, launching missiles, bombs and drones at Ukrainian cities on an almost daily basis.
Systemic attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia have intensified since September, said Oleksandr Kovalenko, spokesman for the region’s military administration.
Moscow’s use of longer-range guided bombs has increased the threat to the city, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the frontline.
The region is building a dozen fully underground schools, and Zaporizhzhia’s remaining 138 are working below ground in repurposed shelters.
Going underground was a no-brainer for Tanya Lupar, a 47-year-old mother and teacher at the school.
“I feel safe working here and having my child nearby, and not at home exposed to these horrors,” she told AFP.
She believed in-person learning was vital to recover lost ground after years of online schooling through the coronavirus pandemic and the first years of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
A UNICEF statement based on preliminary surveys from Kyiv’s education ministry warned that pupils studying remotely had shown declining performance.
To try to bring students back to class, the ministry launched the “Offline School” initiative.
It has brought down the number of pupils fully studying online from 600,000 at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, to 430,000 in February 2025 according to statistics shared with AFP.
Even Valeria Syvash, a top student chosen by the school director to speak to AFP, agreed studying had taken a backseat at home.
“You don’t feel the same way about lessons. They’re not important anymore. You can just log in and go to sleep,” the 12-year-old admitted.
She had enjoyed sleeping at times, but was relieved to be back at school with her teachers and friends.
When the bell rang, some children rushed to get a snack while others sat down to play chess.
Other pupils gathered in a corridor, where they followed a cartoon character on a big screen encouraging them to dance and jump around.
“They love to hug between breaks because they feel protected, we protect them with our emotions,” said Lupar, the teacher.
Children and teachers took turns in leading a group dance every day, she added, one way to keep busy in the absence of a regular playground where they would have safely played in peacetime.
But Sofia and Valeria missed the years when they could walk outside without any worries in the world.
Sofia reminisced about playing hide and seek in the streets.
“I liked it better when we went to school before the war, we could go out, we felt free,” Sofia said softly.
