Almost two years after the start of the war, Ukrainians have learned to live with the bombing. In order to provide their children with education, the city of Kharkiv has set up classes in the subway.
Published on February 19, 2024 7:47 am Updated on February 19, 2024 7:55 am
Reading time: 2 minutes
A classroom in the subway of Kharkiv (Ukraine), February 2024 (VANESSA DESCOURAUX / RADIO FRANCE)
Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, is the country's second largest city. It is bombed daily by Russian troops: according to the World Bank, this region is one of the regions with the greatest damage, along with Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Kiev.
But since February 24, 2022 and the start of the Russian intervention, life has not stopped. Kharkiv City Hall has opened five schools in the metro to ensure the education of the city's children as the situation is unstable. Part of the subway corridor has been closed to the public and can only be used by students and their teachers.
Children talk all the time
The parents are not allowed in; they wait in front of a door guarded by police officers. “Here the students work, they play, they talk. Even during break! I asked my daughter if she took her cell phone with her, she replied 'No, we talk among ourselves,'” testifies Oksanna, whose “My daughter was at school.” Here since the last school year. It is important for them to interact with boys and girls their own age.
These classes are glass containers and overlook the too-bright subway lights that can be heard in the distance. The air is processed through special ventilation, but otherwise everything is normal: a blackboard, more or less concentrated students, a teacher. Tetyana Volodymyrivna has been teaching for 37 years. “When I was asked to work here, I didn’t hesitate for a second,” she says. “Even if these children are not the age group I normally work with.”
“Nothing replaces direct communication. So parents understand that they need to take their children to Metro School if possible.”
Tetyana Volodymyrivna, teacher
at franceinfo
This “metro school” is a unique case in the world. It has been attracting a lot of interest recently, explains Valeri Shepel. He works for the education department of Kharkiv City Hall: “There is a lot of interest, especially from Taiwanese journalists. Because they too are threatened and at risk of being attacked. They were really very interested. They wanted to know everything about how everything was organized, how we did it, what we started with… Let's pray they don't need it!”
In Kharkiv, almost every second school is damaged and four are completely destroyed. The city is looking for additional underground locations to accommodate more students in the coming months.
Report in the Kharkiv “Metro School” by Vanessa Descouraux, Jérémy Tuil and Yachar Fazylov
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