During the forum "Education of a New Ukraine", Deputy Prime Minister for the Reatoration of Ukraine - Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Oleksii Kuleba emphasized that education is one of the key priorities of the state restoration policy, especially in frontline territories.

“The first thing we hear during trips to communities that are constantly under fire: ‘Restore the school.’ Not water, not electricity, not housing – the school itself. Because there are children who need to study there. And as long as there is a school, the community is alive,” Oleksii Kuleba noted.

In his speech, he emphasized that in conditions of full-scale war, the school performs not only educational, but also social, security and unifying functions. That is why the state is investing in a safe, modern and sustainable educational infrastructure.

One of the priorities today is the construction of underground schools. These are full-fledged educational institutions with shelters, food units, libraries, sports halls. Their construction is underway in seven front-line regions – Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Chernihiv and Sumy. By the end of 2025, it is planned to open about 200 such schools.

“The other day, the eighth underground school was opened in Zaporizhia region, designed for 1,000 pupils in two shifts. It was built in less than six months. As the director of one of these schools said, in the fourth grade, children saw each other for the first time - in previous years they studied online due to the pandemic, war, and constant threats. This shows how important it is to build safe educational institutions for the sake of quality education. In total, more than 4,000 educational institutions were destroyed or damaged during the full-scale invasion. More than 1,300 have already been restored, hundreds more are in the process of reconstruction. Currently, 80% of schools in Ukraine have shelters of various types,” Oleksii Kuleba reported.

All projects in the education sector are managed through the DREAM digital ecosystem, which allows you to see the whole picture across the country — from construction to equipment purchases. DREAM has registered 4,370 educational projects with a total budget of almost UAH 200 billion. More than a thousand of them have already been financed.

Special attention is paid to the school nutrition reform, which is being implemented by the First Lady of Ukraine. High-quality food, modernized food units, proper conditions are also a component of a full-fledged school life even in wartime.

Cohesion projects are also being developed, including “Shoulder to Shoulder: All-Ukrainian School Leagues.” More than 700,000 children from 9,000 schools have joined the competition. 40,000 teams are competing in 7 sports, including those living and studying in frontline regions.

“It’s all about human capital and its preservation. If a community has a school with a shelter, a library, a canteen, and a gym, it means that the community has a future. And as a state, we must give a clear answer to parents: the school will be restored, the school is working, the school is open even during the war,” concluded Oleksii Kuleba.

He also thanked the Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi and the Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science, and Technology Mykhailo Fedorov for their systematic work in the field of vocational and technical education and higher education.

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