Half million Ukrainian children have returned to school this year - Ukraine’s Minister of Education

Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi said in a telethon.

"This school year, we managed to return about half a million children to their desks. This was our plan. But the first task we set for ourselves, from Ukraine's president to school principals, was the safety of children. Unfortunately, not all regions are able to bring children to classroom education today," said Lisovyi.

The minister emphasized the importance of classroom education, as it helps to restore the educational level and quality after losses. 

Currently, 40% of children in Ukraine go to school in two shifts, 30% in a combined format, and 25% study online.

Oksen Lisovyi explained that one of the obstacles to returning children to schools is the lack of shelters, and regions such as Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia cannot guarantee the safety of students, even if there are shelters, because missiles fly too fast.

According to him, the government continues to build shelters in schools. This year, UAH 1.5 billion of subventions were allocated for this purpose, and next year the budget for education will be quite positive, the minister added. The state budget for the next year allocates UAH 2.5 billion for the building of shelters in educational institutions.

"So I hope that we will be lucky enough to bring even more children to school than this year," said Lisovyi.