who takes the children to the civilian shelter and in what order?

CHERKASY About a year ago About Oksana Kovalenko became the principal of the Simonenko school in Cherkasy. Now he is busy preparing for the next semester, which starts in Ukraine on September 1.

In addition to curricula, rescue plans must be drawn up: who will take the children to the civil shelter and in what order if the siren starts ringing.

Since the security situation is different in different parts of Ukraine, regional authorities and schools can decide for themselves whether they will start the school year in distance or local education.

Local education has one absolute requirement, i.e. civil protection.

– Our first task is to fix and equip our shelter. We also show these spaces to the children’s parents, because it is important for them to know where their children spend time during the air raid alert, principal Kovalenko says.

The readiness of each school is assessed by the local educational commission, the teaching staff and parents. The school principal makes the final decision to start classroom teaching.

– We sincerely hope that the situation in the country is stable enough that children can study in local classes and not remotely. We have to take care of the quality of education both in our school and in Ukraine in general, says Kovalenko.

Not all students can fit in the shelters, so the school is currently thinking about a solution for this.

– Either we organize teaching in shifts or we have to prioritize age groups. It is more difficult for parents of young children to combine work and childcare, which is why primary school children are the first to get into close-school education.

The school in Cherkasy has the same problems that are common in other parts of Ukraine. No one really knows how many children and teachers will return to school in September. Many have gone to other parts of Ukraine or abroad, and the decision to return may be postponed until the last minute.

According to the Smart osvita organization, Ukraine lacks about a fifth of teachers. About half a million Ukrainian children are currently abroad.

In the spring, many of them studied at a Ukrainian distance school, because the target countries did not necessarily have time to organize substitute education. Now in the fall, those who stayed abroad will start at local educational institutions.

Ukraine gives Ukrainian children living abroad the opportunity to study in an international Ukrainian distance school in order to maintain a connection with their homeland.

However, the Ukrainian authorities remind that parents must primarily comply with the legislation of the country of residence and take the children to the local school.

As a result of the war, approximately 20 percent of the 14,000 school buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed.

The shelters required to start local teaching can be found in only 40 percent of buildings. The worst situation is in the Mykolayiv region, where only 16 percent of schools are suitable for home teaching, the best is in the Lviv region (83%). In Kyiv, shelters can be found in 68 percent of schools.

There are many other problems associated with starting school in Ukraine. Internally displaced persons want to send their children to school in a new location, but keep their place of study in the old educational institution.

Some parents do not dare to take their children to school, even if it has a civil shelter. Printing textbooks has also become more difficult because of the war.

After the Russian invasion began, the Simonenko school accommodated refugees from the east. For them, the school’s old side building, where all kinds of junk was stored, was cleaned and turned into a greenhouse. It was called Victory Garden, says Kovalenko.

The refugees helped grow their own cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers and also ate them themselves. Now the immigrants who stayed to live in the same neighborhood come as volunteers to take care of the garden.

In any case, the refugees are very grateful to the school, which became their temporary home. A girl from the east made a painting of a figure symbolizing the city of Cherkasy and donated it to the school.

Now all the emigrants have already found more permanent homes, because the school will soon function as a school again.

Some of the refugee children return to school as students. Principal Oksana Kovalenko says the children are excited about the opportunity to return to school.

– The children miss each other, the children already miss school. We see them in the playgrounds, and they try to talk to their teachers, even though the vacation is not over yet. They miss school and want to start the semester in private lessons.

You can discuss the topic until Wednesday at 11 pm.