Highlights: In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, residents live under constant threat from Russian missiles and drones. In this situation, it is impossible for children to attend classes in their schools. Since the start of the school year in September, the town hall has opened classrooms in five metro stations. More than 2,100 primary and secondary students attend these “metro schools” or only 2% of the city’s schoolchildren. The municipality is considering finding new safe places to accommodate students.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, residents live under constant threat from Russian missiles and drones. In this situation, it is impossible for children to take classes in their schools,…

reporting

Ukraine: in Kharkiv, metro stations used as classrooms

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, residents live under constant threat from Russian missiles and drones.

In this situation, it is impossible for children to attend classes in their schools, some of which have also been destroyed.

Since the start of the school year in September, the town hall has opened classrooms in five metro stations in the city.

Listen - 01:18

A school set up in a metro station in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, to escape bombs and incessant alerts on the surface, September 1, 2023. © SERGEY BOBOK / AFP

By: RFI Follow

With our special correspondents in Kharkiv,

Anastasia Becchio & Boris Vicith

It's playtime in one of the seven classes set up in a subway gallery.

Due to lack of space, the

students stay in the room

, whose marble wall is decorated with alphabets and characters from school textbooks.

Timour, 9 years old, says he appreciates this “metro school” which he attends three times a week.

“

It’s good here, the food is good, and the classes too.
I'm happy, because I'm with my friends, we can chat.
I went to school in Germany, in Poland, but it’s better in Ukraine

,” the boy reports.

In another room, a student solves an operation on an interactive board.

Natalia Andrenko is a first grade teacher.

“

For a long time, children did not have the opportunity to see and talk to each other.
And now, it’s finally possible for them.
They come with pleasure, because here, they are with their comrades.

Nothing replaces human contact

,” believes the teacher.

“They are already more sociable”

“

It's also easier for them to ask questions if they don't understand a point in the course

Children are happy to come here.

They have changed
: at the beginning of the year, they were more closed, they were shy, and now, they are already more sociable

,” she continues.

According to the town hall, more than 2,100 primary and secondary students attend these “metro schools”, or only 2% of the city's schoolchildren.

In this context, the municipality is considering finding new safe places to accommodate students.

Also read: “In kyiv, despite power cuts and explosions, we continue to fight to study”

Ukraine: in Kharkiv, metro stations used as classrooms

Ukraine: in Kharkiv, metro stations used as classrooms

“They are already more sociable”

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