Svitlana Dukhovych, Piotr Kowalczuk
In regions most vulnerable to attacks, classes are held in a hybrid or remote format. One of the main criteria determining the choice of teaching method remains the availability of a bomb shelter: Over 82 percent of schools conducting in-person classes have their own shelter or access to one nearby.
Children of War
In Korosten, in the Zhytomyr region, 155 kilometers from Kyiv, Inna teaches the Ukrainian language at a public school. She is also a homeroom teacher: “These are truly children of war,” Inna says. “I have students who have lost loved ones at the front and survived bombings.”
For Inna, being a “war teacher” means, above all, loving the children even more than under normal conditions. “Today, a teacher’s task cannot be limited to instruction. Even before the lesson begins, you need to be there for the child and support them in a difficult moment,” she says.
Talking About War
Inna says that when a student directly affected by the war returns to school, the class must also be prepared to welcome them. Students can speak about their emotions and share what they have experienced: “Children are capable of being more compassionate than we are,” she notes, “and when we talk about war, we can look for a positive and concrete perspective: the opportunity to rebuild what has been destroyed. It is not about naive optimism, but active realism.”
Inna’s school has a shelter that was built after the building was severely damaged in 2022. However, the shelter can only accommodate half of the students. For this reason, classes are held in two shifts.
School as a Place of Mutual Support
In Khmelnytskyi, in western Ukraine, Oleksandra directs the Blessed Marcelina Darowska Catholic School, founded in 2020. Here too, the war has affected the families of students and teachers. Some children have fathers at the front, others have lost their fathers. Oleksandra points out that because of the war, the school has primarily become a place of mutual support: “We want the children to have hope and be able to experience their childhood even during the war. We entrust our worries and fears to God. We hope that we will manage to get through this winter as well, supporting and helping one another.”
Prayer Support
Every day, students meet in classrooms for a moment of listening and sharing stories. “Once a week, the entire school community gathers. A passage from the Gospel is read, and there is time for prayer and for listening to the children. Teachers and students pray for one another,” the principal says. She adds that her school also enables families to access specialized psychological help as well as the assistance of a chaplain.
Panic Attacks
“Tension,” Oleksandra explains, “also affects the teachers. Before the start of the school year, we organized a meeting dedicated to how to cope with panic attacks. We didn’t need this before, but now we must respond to the needs of this reality.”
How Not to Lose Hope?
Oleksandra says the conditions are extremely difficult. Teachers ask how to see the point of education when things happening around them seem so terrible that nothing brings joy and there is no hope? How not to lose hope in all of this? The principal points out that the answer comes from faith and community, because the Word of God and the Church are the main source of help in facing difficulties and caring for the children and teachers.
“This is a great struggle. It would be easier to close the school and do nothing. But we see that it is worth moving forward. We want to entrust our lives and our school to Jesus Christ. We believe that He sustains us,” says Oleksandra.
