Five underground schools have been set up in Sumy region: nearly 2,000 pupils will be able to attend classes in person, - Ministry of Education and Science. PHOTO
In the Sumy region, the construction and fitting out of five underground schools have been completed, enabling nearly 2,000 children to return to face-to-face learning. Four safe learning spaces have been created in the Sumy community and one more in the Shostka community.
According to Censor.NET, this was announced by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science, the five underground schools have a total capacity of 1,360 places. The schools for which they were fitted out have 1,944 pupils, so lessons can be organised in several shifts, taking into account the capacity of the shelters.
The ministry emphasised that these are not merely shelters for use during air raid alerts, but fully-fledged educational spaces. Lessons can be held there and learning can continue even during prolonged air raid alerts.
"The safety of pupils and teachers remains our top priority. We are working to ensure that the war does not deprive children of the opportunity to go to school, interact with their classmates and teachers, and lead a full school life," said Andrii Butenko, Minister of Education and Science.
According to him, underground schools and equipped shelters give communities facing heightened security risks the opportunity to maintain face-to-face learning.
The Ministry of Education and Science noted that the creation of such spaces is particularly important for the Sumy region due to regular air raid alerts and Russian shelling. Schools must be prepared not only to accommodate children in shelters but also to continue the full educational process there in the event of a prolonged threat.
In total, 238 underground schools and anti-radiation shelters are already in operation in general secondary education establishments across Ukraine. In 2026, a state grant of 5 billion hryvnias is earmarked for the fitting out of school shelters.
The funding covers 113 shelters across 22 regions. Priority is given to communities with high and very high levels of security risk.
Work is also being carried out as part of the LEARN programme, in partnership with the World Bank, and with financial support from the European Union under the Ukraine Facility.
