ZAPORIZHZHIA
\nSofia had hesitated to go back to her school in south Ukraine, afraid that \u201csomething might happen because of the war.\u201d
\nLike hundreds of thousands of other children in her country, she has been learning remotely for years, first due to the coronavirus pandemic and then the risk of aerial attacks since Russia\u2019s invasion.
\nBut after spending a few hours in her new classrooms, seven meters underground in a brightly-lit anti-radiation bunker, the 12-year-old felt reassured.
\n\u201cThere won\u2019t be any shrapnel, any strikes. I am safe,\u201d she told AFP.
\nThe Ukrainian government has been working to bring children like Sofia back to the classroom amid concerns that distance learning is having an impact on their education, three years into the war.
\nThere were at least 576 attacks on educational facilities in Ukraine in 2024, a 96 percent increase compared to the year before, according to the UN.
\nUnderground schools, like Sofia\u2019s in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, allow students to return and socialize with their classmates while keeping them safe from attacks.
\nThe children have adapted quickly, said Lidia Yeremenko, head of the Left Bank Education Department at Zaporizhzhia City Council.
\n\u201cWhen they saw their peers, their eyes lit up. That was it, they forgot that there was a war going on,\u201d she said.
\nSofia also had a positive impression.
\n\u201cI like the way it looks from the outside, because it seems that there is no school, everything is underground,\u201d the shy pupil with big dark eyes told AFP.
\nThe sky over Ukraine has become synonymous with danger since Russia invaded in February 2022, launching missiles, bombs and drones at Ukrainian cities on an almost daily basis.
\nSystemic attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia have intensified since September, said Oleksandr Kovalenko, spokesman for the region\u2019s military administration.
\nMoscow\u2019s use of longer-range guided bombs has increased the threat to the city, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the frontline.
\nThe region is building a dozen fully underground schools, and Zaporizhzhia\u2019s remaining 138 are working below ground in repurposed shelters.
\nGoing underground was a no-brainer for Tanya Lupar, a 47-year-old mother and teacher at the school.
\n\u201cI feel safe working here and having my child nearby, and not at home exposed to these horrors,\u201d she told AFP.
\nShe believed in-person learning was vital to recover lost ground after years of online schooling through the coronavirus pandemic and the first years of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion.
\nA UNICEF statement based on preliminary surveys from Kyiv\u2019s education ministry warned that pupils studying remotely had shown declining performance.
\nTo try to bring students back to class, the ministry launched the \u201cOffline School\u201d initiative.
\nIt has brought down the number of pupils fully studying online from 600,000 at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, to 430,000 in February 2025 according to statistics shared with AFP.
\nEven Valeria Syvash, a top student chosen by the school director to speak to AFP, agreed studying had taken a backseat at home.
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t feel the same way about lessons. They\u2019re not important anymore. You can just log in and go to sleep,\u201d the 12-year-old admitted.
\nShe had enjoyed sleeping at times, but was relieved to be back at school with her teachers and friends.
\nWhen the bell rang, some children rushed to get a snack while others sat down to play chess.
\nOther pupils gathered in a corridor, where they followed a cartoon character on a big screen encouraging them to dance and jump around.
\n\u201cThey love to hug between breaks because they feel protected, we protect them with our emotions,\u201d said Lupar, the teacher.
\nChildren and teachers took turns in leading a group dance every day, she added, one way to keep busy in the absence of a regular playground where they would have safely played in peacetime.
\nBut Sofia and Valeria missed the years when they could walk outside without any worries in the world.
\nSofia reminisced about playing hide and seek in the streets.
\n\u201cI liked it better when we went to school before the war, we could go out, we felt free,\u201d Sofia said softly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ZAPORIZHZHIA Sofia had hesitated to go back to her school in south Ukraine, afraid that \u201csomething might happen because of the war.\u201d Like hundreds of thousands of other children in her country, she has been learning remotely for years, first due to the coronavirus pandemic and then the risk of aerial attacks since Russia\u2019s invasion. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n