In the Ukraine war, Russia leaves schools in ruins. How far-reaching are the consequences of the destruction of education for children?
Kiev – bombed classrooms, destroyed libraries and no classes for years: The Ukraine war has devastating consequences for children’s education. According to a report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch From February 2022 to October this year, 3,428 educational institutions in Ukraine were damaged and 365 were destroyed.
Russia’s attacks would hinder Ukrainian children’s access to education not only during the war but likely long after. Repairing and rebuilding schools requires a lot of resources and time.
Russia’s Attacks: Ukraine Protects Education with Safe Schools Declaration
Even before Ukraine’s war of aggression in February 2022, the Ukrainian government had taken measures to protect children’s education from the attacks. In 2019, the country committed to the Safe Schools Declaration – an international political commitment that protects education in times of war by strengthening prevention and response to attacks on schools and universities. In the statement, Ukraine committed to implementing the “Guidelines on the Protection of Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflicts.” This means, among other things, that the armed forces should not use schools and universities for military purposes.
Since then, Kiev has drawn up an action plan for implementation. According to the non-governmental organization Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, 1,000 Ukrainian military officials had been trained in the Safe Schools Declaration and “Guidelines” by January last year. According to information from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, an order was issued in July to further restrict the military use of educational institutions. Human Rights Watch is not aware that the Russian government has taken any action to protect education from wartime attacks.
Russia steals school computers: Schools in Ukraine serve as bases
Ukrainian schools suffered the greatest damage from air raids, artillery shelling and rocket attacks Human Rights Watch reported. Cluster munitions were also used in several attacks. The basements of many schools and kindergartens served as protection for the Ukrainian civilian population from the Russian armed forces. Hundreds of people are said to have stayed there. For example, according to Human Rights Watch, on March 10, 2022, nearly 200 civilians were in the basement of School No. 5 in Izyum when it was hit twice by a Russian airstrike. Nobody was killed or injured.
The current law of war states that schools may not be deliberately attacked. An exception is made if the facility is used for military purposes. The warring parties would have to take all possible precautions to keep the damage to civilians in the event of attacks as low as possible. However, Russia carried out attacks on schools in the Kharkivska and Chernihivska regions that were not used for military purposes.
Russia often used Ukrainian schools and kindergartens as bases for its soldiers, as Human Rights Watch writes. Military vehicles were parked in the schoolyards. Sometimes Russia would also have used the educational rooms for medical purposes or to detain civilians. They stole computers, televisions, electronic boards, other school equipment and heating systems. The soldiers painted graffiti on walls that expressed hatred against Ukraine.
Russian army used school buildings for target practice
When Russian soldiers occupied a school in Borodianka in the Kiev region for a month in March 2022, they used the school building as a base and to fire on Ukrainian forces. Human Rights Watch researchers who visited the school in June 2022 saw anti-Ukrainian graffiti on the classroom walls and a flag with a Nazi swastika. The gymnasium was used for target practice: “I couldn’t hold back the tears,” said the school director. “They (the Russian armed forces) used the cafeteria as a bathroom. In another room, blood could be seen on the walls. They broke all the computers and left a pile of mess behind. They simply took the laptops with them.”
Overall, the war significantly affected the children’s education and had a negative impact on their psychosocial well-being. A nationwide survey conducted between December 2022 and January 2023 by the Ukrainian think tank Cedos with the SavED and International Renaissance Foundation foundations found: 72 percent of Ukrainian parents think their children need additional measures to address educational gaps in their knowledge and skills to balance. On the one hand because of the Covid-19 pandemic and on the other hand because of the war with Russia. The majority of parents also reported symptoms of stress in their children, such as worsening sleep quality and duration, problems concentrating and difficulty communicating.
Reconstruction of schools in Ukraine: slow due to Russian occupation
In December 2022, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine also reported that “destroyed and demolished schools prevent physical access to education in many cases, particularly in the zone of military attack.” In addition, online education is at risk from “attacks on the energy system”.
The reconstruction of destroyed schools went very differently. For example, in January 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine reported that 87 destroyed educational institutions would be restored in the Kiev region, including 10 schools in the municipalities of Borodianska and Buchanska, 11 in Makarivska and 8 in Ivankivska. In contrast, reconstruction efforts in the Kharkiv region have been much slower due to the ongoing Russian occupation: as of January 2023, only 13 of the 296 affected schools had been repaired.
According to the MDR, the ongoing Russian attacks mean that only a third of school-age children can go to school regularly. Many students would also forget material they had already learned. The attacks left her deeply disturbed. Unicef said children in Ukraine do not have a safe space to learn. The situation is not much better for children who have fled abroad with their families. More than half did not attend school in their host country. (Lisa Mariella Löw)
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