Yulia Svyrydenko: Government is working to ensure safe education for children everywhere, including in frontline areas

The Government is working to ensure that the educational process in Ukraine, particularly in frontline regions, takes place in safe conditions. This was announced by Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko during a working visit to Kherson region.

The Prime Minister visited the Vysokopillia flagship general secondary education institution, where an underground school has been built to accommodate nearly 500 school and preschool-aged children, who can now study in a single shift.

“Vysokopillia was under occupation in 2022. Many buildings were destroyed. And now, air raid sirens frequently sound here. Thanks to this project, children can now study uninterrupted in underground classrooms. The local community delivered this project with a state budget subvention of UAH 82.9 million,” said Yulia Svyrydenko.

In total, eight schools with shelters are operational in Kherson region, with three more to be completed by the end of the year.

In addition to Kherson region, the Government is constructing underground school shelters in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Chernihiv, and Mykolaiv regions. A total of UAH 11.2 billion in subventions and grants has been allocated for this purpose in 2024–2025, with the Strategic Council recently approving continued construction in 2026.

Furthermore, Yulia Svyrydenko highlighted additional programmes for schools in frontline regions:

• Free school meals for pupils in grades 1–11, introduced by the Government at the start of this academic year (covering Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions).
• School bus programme. Yesterday, the Government allocated an additional UAH 500 million to purchase school buses, including for frontline communities.
• “In these areas, buses are often unavailable because they were destroyed in the war or transferred to the Defence Forces. Funding for school transport comes from the remaining education subvention allocated earlier this year to a special fund of the Ministry of Education and Science,” the Prime Minister commented.
• Digital devices. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, in collaboration with international donors under the Device Coalition, over 100,000 pupils and teachers in frontline regions have been provided with devices in 2024–2025.

“This is our priority – to create opportunities for comfortable and safe in-person learning for all Ukrainian schoolchildren, including those in areas near the frontline. We want children to continue receiving quality education at home, in Ukraine,” emphasised Yulia Svyrydenko.