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War in Ukraine: in Kharkiv, the metro transformed into a school
War in Ukraine: in Kharkiv, the metro transformed into a school – (France 2)
Faced with the permanent threat, the authorities of the city of Kharkiv have generalized a system of underground schools. Students take classes in metro stations.
They arrive quietly, well bundled up. These CP students do not go down to the metro for an outing, but to go to class. It is one of the underground schools in Kharkiv (Ukraine), located in a former passenger corridor. The country’s second city, located around forty kilometers from Russia, is targeted daily by Russian bombings. The metro, which served as the dormitory in the first days of the war, is once again a protective refuge for students and teachers alike.
The joy of classroom lessons
After months of online lessons, Olena Kruchyna happily returned to classroom lessons. “We forget the war a little here. We don’t hear the alarms, and we are safe”she confides. “I like school, I found friends and I have fun with them”, declares a little girl. Psychologists are present in each room.
The metro passes every 10 minutes under the classrooms, a sign that life also goes on for the inhabitants of Kharkiv. On the surface, a bus is waiting for the children to take them home. Their departure is sometimes delayed by alarms. As the days passed, the uncertainty of the next day strengthened the bonds between the teacher and her students.
