Second Underground School Opens in Kharkiv Region Offering Safety for 750 Children

A second underground school has opened in Kharkiv region, on January 22, according to charity fund savED.

The charity was founded by Anna Novosad, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science from 2019 to 2020, along with Anna Putsova and the GoGlobal initiative.

“We’ve managed to turn an old neglected basement into real underground classrooms, comfortable and bright, the ones that look like places for studying, not just facilities for staying during an air raid alarm,” said savED co-founder Anna Putsova.

Pechenihy, located southeast of Kharkiv, has been targeted by Russian air attacks, leaving 750 children in the village without access to offline education. According to Oksana Pomyliaiko, director of the local high school, for many younger students, studying in this underground center will be their first experience with in-person, structured education.

The construction of the center cost approximately $70,754, with $7,000 contributed by the local budget and theIt was built with money from Taiwan and support from other countries. 

As of December 2024, Russian attacks had damaged more than half of Kharkiv’s educational facilities, including 134 of the city’s 184 schools and 109 of its 205 kindergartens. To address the demand for safe hybrid education for 53,000 schoolchildren, Kharkiv plans to build three additional underground schools.

After the full-scale invasion, Kharkiv started converting its metro stations into makeshift schools, providing a safe space for children to continue their education amid ongoing attacks.

Of the city’s 100,000 students, 53,000 remain in Kharkiv, while the rest continue their studies remotely from other cities or countries due to displacement. For those still in the city, underground schools offer a rare opportunity for in-person learning and interaction.