As of August 2024, the Russian Federation has conducted over 1,000 air attacks on Ukraine, including massive strikes with missiles and drones. In August 2024 alone, there were reports of 236 missiles and drones launched in a single day at peaceful Ukrainian cities.
According to official data from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, as of mid-2024, Russian forces have occupied or repurposed around 3,790 educational institutions for military purposes, including as weapon depots and temporary bases for Russian occupiers.
As of October 2024, approximately 180 schools have been destroyed due to Russian shelling. In total, over 1,700 schools have been damaged, most of which are located in eastern regions of Ukraine.
UNICEF, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Ukrainska Pravda, UKRINFORM, and other official sources present alarming facts about the destruction of educational institutions in Ukraine as a result of missile strikes from the Russian Federation.
For example, in March 2024, a Russian missile caused significant damage to the sports and conference halls of the Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design named after Mykhailo Boychuk, damaging windows, walls, and equipment in neighboring classrooms.
In March 2022, due to bombardment, Irpin Lyceum No. 3 was seriously damaged, leading to the destruction of the facade and broken windows, rendering the institution unfit for learning.
In April 2022, the Borodianka Lyceum in the Kyiv region was affected by shelling, resulting in the destruction of walls and the roof, making the school unsuitable for the educational process.
Similarly, in May 2022, shelling damaged Gymnasium No. 33 in Kharkiv, in July, Zelena Dolyna School No. 1 in Dnipropetrovsk region was affected, and in October, Mykolaiv Lyceum No. 2 was partially destroyed, which temporarily rendered these schools out of operation.
These are just a few examples of damage to over 1,700 schools in unoccupied territories and more than 3,000 schools that remain in occupied areas of Ukraine.
Restoring infrastructure is a decades-long issue. Unfortunately, this damage goes beyond just “concrete walls” to include the mental and emotional well-being of students and teachers, as well as a decline in the quality of education.
According to the Ukrainian School of Elites, there is no need to wait for infrastructure restoration to assist educators. Instead, targeted projects should be created to address specific needs in this context, and the challenges should be tackled collectively by charitable and community organizations, the expert community, partners, and donors.
The Ukrainian School of Elites has noted the lack or deficiency of methodological online resources for teachers of the Ukrainian language—both as the state language and the language of official communication, as well as a mandatory subject for admission to any higher education institution in Ukraine.
While there has been significant attention given to the mathematical field in Ukraine, due to the rapid development of the information technology (IT) sector (with the EdTech Association of Ukraine, various online courses, and online schools typically focused on IT), the Ukrainian language has been overlooked.
Understanding that we cannot solve all problems or tackle everything (from physics to natural sciences), the Ukrainian School of Elites initiated a project to develop methodological online resources specifically for the Ukrainian language. For this purpose, we have engaged top specialists from the first online Ukrainian language training center, uMOVA, led by Halyna Kononivna Dmytrenko, a highly qualified teacher-methodologist and author of Ukrainian language textbooks and programs for the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
The project is supported by international donors from the Business Coalition of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and is planned for development over 12 months. For more details, see the “Project for the Development of Methodological Online Resources for Teachers of the Ukrainian Language” page.
Undoubtedly, the issue of overcoming war-related psychological trauma will remain relevant for generations to come. Therefore, the Ukrainian School of Elites is also focusing on mental health projects and the development of psychological competencies among professionals in Ukraine.