Making schools a target of war is a violation not only of international humanitarian law, but of a child’s right to education. Globally, over 33 million children living in areas affected by armed conflict are unable to go to school.
Ukraine is no exception. The war, which is one year old today, 24 February, is having a devastating impact on the lives and the futures of 5.7 million children of school age, who have been robbed of stability, safety in the classroom, friends and dreams of a future.
Since the start of the armed conflict, more than 3,000 educational institutions have been damaged by shelling. Of these, 420 have been completely destroyed, according to figures from the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science.
Los derechos fundamentales de millones de niños a ser protegidos y educados son violados alrededor del mundo. Retrato de Darija Nikolajenko (de 14 años) frente a su escuela destruida. El 3 de marzo de 2022 el centro educativo nº 21 fue bombardeado por las fuerzas rusas. 27 de septiembre de 2022, Chernigiv, Ucrania.
Attacks on schools in the context of armed conflict have become a growing and alarming trend worldwide. During 2020 and 2021, over 5,000 attacks on education or incidents involving the military use of schools and universities were reported, in which at least 9,000 students and educators were harmed or killed. On average, six attacks on education or incidents of military use took place every day.
From Afghanistan to Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine and Colombia, warring parties are flouting “one of the most basic rules of war: the protection of children,” says UNICEF.
“Children are direct targets in conflicts around the world. We cannot accept this as the new normal,” warns UNICEF’s executive director, Catherine Russell, recalling that “a child’s right to education cannot be safeguarded in conflict situations without protecting education itself”.
Un folleto sobre el uso de máscaras antigás se acumula entre los restos de la escuela nº15. El centro fue atacado el 7 de marzo. 10 de abril de 2022, Kramatorks, Ucrania.
“Disrupting the learning of children living in war zones has a lifelong impact, limiting their future opportunities. It’s going to impact their ability to learn and develop, to be able to find a place in society,” explains Delphine Dorsi, director of the Right to Education Initiative.
“The challenges facing education are many, but they are not impossible,” stresses Dorsi. To stop wars from destroying the future of entire generations around the world, governments need to ratify, implement and support the Safe Schools Declaration, which Ukraine endorsed in 2019, to protect all students and education workers from the worst effects of armed conflict.
In spite of everything, the bombs have not succeeded in destroying the education system in Ukraine. The work of the Ministry of Education – resuming classes – and the financial and institutional support of organisations such as the United Nations have made it possible to keep the system afloat. One example is the UN Special Fund and ‘Education Cannot Wait’, which have provided around US$5 million in emergency aid for children affected by the war, both for their education and mental health. In addition, since the invasion began, some 760,000 children have received formal or non-formal education through United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) support programmes and over 1.7 million children and caregivers have benefited from the health and psychosocial support interventions supported by the agency.
The efforts to keep up with classes in a country at war have been significant. A month after the outbreak of the war, Ukrainian schools, colleges and universities resumed classes online and since September face-to-face schooling has returned for primary school pupils, who take turn to attend classes, given the large number of schools that have been damaged or destroyed and are no longer operational.
Veronika, de 11 años, sigue una clase en línea en su casa de Kharkiv. “Me siento mejor cuando veo a mis compañeros en línea; me ayuda a quitarme de encima las malas noticias y la guerra”. 14 de abril de 2022, Kharkiv, Ucrania.
For teachers, the return to school, whether face-to-face or online, is essential, even if it only serves to give a semblance of normality to the millions of children affected by the conflict. But teaching in the midst of war is not easy.
“It’s not the same as when we resumed classes online because of Covid. I am aware that we are under a lot of pressure, on a daily basis – the heads of the schools, the teachers and the students. It takes a huge psychological effort to concentrate, to give or receive lessons with the constant wailing of sirens, with parents telling us every day that they are leaving for other cities or other countries and, ultimately, not having contact with our pupils for a while,” explains Tetiana Mashkun, a teacher at secondary school no. 21 in Chernihiv, which was destroyed in shelling on 3 March.
Darija Nikolajenko en el interior de lo que queda de su escuela. 27 de septiembre de 2022, Chernigiv, Ucrania.
Chernihiv is just 50 kilometres from the Belarus border, and although it was not taken by Russian troops, it came under heavy siege during the first month of the war.
The canteen and kitchen of secondary school no. 21 was occupied by the Civil Defence Forces, where they cooked for Ukrainian troops, but many families from the neighbourhood would also go to the school’s air-raid shelter for protection when the sirens sounded. Forty-eight people were killed in the heavy shelling, which also destroyed school no. 18.
It is not easy to overcome such a trauma. Some of 14-year-old Darija Nikolajenko’s school friends died on the way to the air-raid shelter. Darija has stopped in front of the rubble and ruins to which her school has been reduced. “War is the worst thing that can happen to the human race. Especially in the 21st century. I can’t imagine how we reached this point. My school was my second home. It is hard to imagine my future. All I can think about is a future without war,” reflects Darija, who has had to return to classes online as there are not enough schools now and some of them do not meet the safety standards.
Un mapa ucraniano en un aula desierta en la escuela de Irpin. El centro fue atacado en marzo de 2022. Antes de la guerra, 1.858 niños estudiaban en la escuela infantil de Irpin. Hoy, el edificio es un amasijo de hierros y escombros tras recibir 30 impactos de misiles, siete directos. 30 de septiembre de 2022, Irpin, Ucrania.
Less than sixty per cent of the schools deemed safe were able to reopen in September. In the eastern regions, which are on the front line, the local authorities decided not to open the schools and to keep all education online, while farther away from the front lines, educational institutions were partially opened, provided they had an air-raid shelter.
Sviatoslav, de 10 años, asiste a clase en la escuela nº25, un edificio renovado donde UNICEF ha construido un refugio antiaéreo. Se trasladó aquí después de que su liceo fuera completamente destruido. “Ahora asisto a esta otra; y aunque aquí se está bien, quiero volver a mi antigua escuela”, explica. 29 de septiembre de 2022, Zhytomyr, Ucrania.
Ten-year-old Sviatoslav, compared to hundreds of thousands of other children his age who will not return to school this academic year, can consider himself fortunate to be back at school. Sviatoslav started the academic year in a new school. His previous school, Lyceum No. 25 in Zhytomyr, was completely destroyed by shelling on 4 March.
For the boy, going back to school is quite an experience, as his education has been disrupted ever since he started primary school, practically, first by the initial two years of the pandemic and then the war.
La escuela nº15 fue atacada el 7 de marzo a las 3:30 de la madrugada. Se calcula que una media de 22 escuelas al día fueron atacadas en Ucrania al inicio de la guerra. 10 de abril de 2022, Kramatorks, Ucrania.
“Despite the risk of sending their children to school, many parents feel that it is safer than studying at home, because when the air raid sirens go off, the teachers take the pupils down to the shelter,” explains Ivan Denisyuk, head of School No. 25.
Unos niños se distienden en un área de juego. Al fondo: edificios destruidos en Borodyanka, ciudad que sufrió intensos bombardeos por parte de las fuerzas rusas al inicio de la guerra. Más del 90% del centro de la ciudad quedó destruido. 29 de septiembre de 2022, Borodyanka, Ucrania.
Keeping education going is a way of resisting the war. “It is very important that children go back to school. They are the future, they will help us rebuild and strengthen Ukraine,” exclaims Denisyuk. As Nelson Mandela would say, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
