More Than 600 Students in the Sumy Region Resumed Their In-Person Learning Thanks to a New Shelter Equipped by the Olena Zelenska Foundation

The Olena Zelenska Foundation’s team visited an educational institution where, at the beginning of the new school year, children for the first time received the opportunity to learn safely, even during constant air raids.

The Sumy region is a border region subjected to massive shelling every day. Here, air raid sirens are heard regularly and have already become part of the community’s life. Despite this, children continue to go to school, attend clubs, and teachers conduct lessons. There are almost 80 thousand schoolchildren in the region, and for many of them, shelters are the only option for in-person study.

For 621 students of this Lyceum, the new shelter ensures protection during air raids and gives a space to continue classes, participate in extracurricular activities, or communicate with friends. The 1,031-square-meter space has areas for classes, rest, and games. It is also completely accessible—the entrance is fitted with a wheelchair-access mechanism.

This is the first shelter equipped by the Foundation in the Sumy region. The space can also be used by children who attend sports sections, music schools, and clubs operating on the Lyceum premises.

“In the Sumy region, where air raids and shelling have become, unfortunately, a daily reality, the shelter gives children the opportunity not to lose their studies, to see friends, and feel the support of teachers. This is about childhood, which must continue despite the hardest conditions of wartime. The Olena Zelenska Foundation works to ensure that such safe spaces appear in schools and kindergartens across the country. We thank our international partners for dedicating themselves to this goal with us so that children have safe conditions for learning and the opportunity to develop,” Nina Horbachova, Director of the Olena Zelenska Foundation, notes.

Within its education and development access area, the Foundation implements a project that aims to restore and equip shelters in schools and kindergartens throughout Ukraine so that as many children as possible can study in a safe environment.

During the visit, the Foundation’s team arranged classes with specialists from the State Emergency Service, the National Police of Ukraine, and the Center for Emergency Medicine. They taught children the mine and fire safety, traffic, and pre-medical care rules.

In total, the Foundation has already equipped 30 shelters in schools and kindergartens throughout Ukraine. Now, thirteen thousand children use them on a daily basis. Each new shelter allows children to preserve their learning, development, and childhood even during the full-scale war.