Ukrainian City to Protect Students by Building Underground Schools

In an effort to protect Ukraine's schoolchildren from Russian bombs and possible fallout from a nuclear plant in the line of fire, the city of Zaporizhzhia is launching a massive project to build new schools below ground.   

When finished, 12 below ground bomb- and radiation-proof schools will serve 12,000 students. The project has already broken ground. It's hugely financed by global donors. And its cost is certain to be massive. Building one gym for one school, for instance, is gauged to run $2.7 million.   

Support and aid for the army is the main concern, Zaporizhzhia Oblast governor Ivan Fedorov told The Associated Press. “But if we lose (children), for whom (do) we fight?” he said.  

The war started in February 2022. It indefinitely put off students’ classroom return after the pandemic. Most of the city’s youngest school-age children have never seen a classroom. Officials are rolling out a lofty plan to open the first below ground school in December. Federov told Ukrinform, the Ukrainian national news agency, that five more below ground schools are slated to be built in 2025. 

School 88 is closest to being finished. It features many layers of rebar and thousands of cubic meters of reinforced concrete. It will sit under a yard of dirt covered by a playground and a sports field. The building will include an air filtration system. It'll also have a back-up power source. It'll contain enough food and water for three days, too. 

Some parents are nervous about sending their kids back to school. But other options aren't better, they say. 

Some kids miss talking to people in-person, Liubov Pashina told Euronews. She's the mother of a School 88 student. 

Reflect: How do you think the environment in which children learn can affect their overall well-being and development?

Photo of young people waiting for aid after a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia from Reuters.