in Lviv, the reopening of schools is being prepared under the worried gaze of parents

It has been three months since Anna fled Russian forces and Kherson in southern Ukraine with her eight-year-old son to reach Lviv in the west. It is out of the question, she says, that he returns to class, even if the child confides that he misses school a little. It is out of the question to physically send him back to class: “It’s dangerous. I don’t want to send my child back to school. The Russians are shooting at civilian buildings, they are targeting schools and it can happen anywhere, even in the Lviv region.”

As the offensive widens – the head of Russian diplomacy having set as its objective, after the Donbass, the capture of the regions of Kherson and Zaporijia on Wednesday July 20 – the Ukrainian government announced the reopening of schools, face-to-face, at the start of the school year on September 1. Except for the towns closest to the fighting. Many parents like Anna fear seeing their children rounded up and targeted even in towns relatively unaffected by the conflict.

Security is our priority, tries to reassure Lviv town hall deputy Yevgeny Boïko, in charge of humanitarian policy: “Nobody is going to put the children under the bombs. We will see according to the situation in the country. In Lviv, 84% of the schools have a shelter, but work needs to be done.” What he calls shelters are often simple rooms in the basement or half buried that must be equipped and consolidated.

“There is a lot to do, but we will be ready”, affirms Svetlana Oralova as she walks down a few basement steps at the International Relations High School, the school she runs in downtown Lviv. Before the war, 1,300 students aged 6 to 17 were enrolled. Classrooms have become a dark space cluttered with rubble.

the tiles that covered the floors and walls were broken and completely removed: too much risk of splinters in the event of an impact. A simple coating will be applied, specifies the director : “All windows will be covered with sandbags. Here, there will be TVs. We can accommodate up to 200 people here, she promises. It will only be for the five CP classes. For older children, you will have to walk ten minutes to the shelter of the church or eight minutes to another school”

Not enough room for everyone, therefore, within the establishment. In the event of bombardments, Svetlana Oralova thinks about a system of rotation of the pupils: to leave a part in turn in distanciel to avoid that the establishment is full.