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Svitlana Popova鈥檚 students didn鈥檛 realize she was leading their online math class while outside the charred remains of her home in Ukraine until they saw a news video .

Her students were in their own difficult circumstances, too 鈥� seeking refuge away from their homes, some in other countries.

Popova is a mathematics teacher in the town of Borodyanka, in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. Her school was seized as a headquarters by Russian military forces and heavily damaged before their retreat. After her classroom transitioned to online instruction, Russian tanks fired on her house and burned it down. Yet this dedicated teacher continued to lead virtual lessons from a small umbrella-covered table in the yard.

Ordinary Ukrainians have been hailed for their heroism since Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion. 鈥淭here are no small matters in a great war,鈥� Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy affirmed in an emotional . 鈥淓ach of us is a fighter,鈥� Zelenskyy stated. 鈥淓ach of us is the basis of defense.鈥�

Listing the tools of war 鈥� ship鈥檚 helms, steering wheels, weapons, scalpels 鈥� Zelenskyy ended with an unexpected inclusion: the teacher鈥檚 pointer. This passing remark highlights an often hidden front in Ukraine鈥檚 defensive struggle 鈥� the fight by countless teachers and parents to keep more than educated, even as their worlds have been thrown into upheaval.

Educational efforts

Like Ukraine鈥檚 stunning resistance itself, local educators are rising to the occasion despite enormous challenges. Viral videos show teachers continuing to instruct their small pupils in during active bombardments, or conducting lessons inside a after schools lose electricity. Gas stations and grocery stores, powered by generators long after homes and schools lose power, are being into hubs for filming virtual lessons.

One Kyiv teacher spent hours outside a store, determined to finish sharing the day鈥檚 homework assignment despite rolling blackouts. Other teachers now bring their for online lessons, lifting spirits and providing psychological support. Many teachers, like Popova, comfort their students despite their own traumatic losses.

Long-term displacement

As an since 2015, I have long observed the effects of armed conflict on Ukrainian children. After Russia first in 2014, regular to schools have been attributed by Ukrainians to Russian governmental efforts to sow fear.

Between that first invasion and the second in February 2022, armed conflict with Russia internally displaced Ukrainians and damaged . I have analyzed the impact of this on children for since Russia鈥檚 invasion began nine years ago. Still, these earlier challenges pale in comparison with what the Ukrainian educational system faces today.

Russia鈥檚 nationwide offensive against Ukraine in early 2022 led to the largest refugee flows in Europe since World War II. In the weeks following the invasion, nearly 16 million Ukrainians were driven from their homes to seek refuge and . Many of these were women and children, exacting a heavy toll on Ukraine鈥檚 female-majority teaching corps, as well as their students.

With large numbers of Ukraine鈥檚 young people at least temporarily resettled in primarily European countries, some teachers a surge in their students鈥� motivation linked to the structure of returning to their online Ukrainian schooling. 鈥淭he children missed it (school) 鈥� because most of them were on the road for a long time. It was very emotionally draining, and when they returned to school, it was something they were used to,鈥� one teacher .

Teaching online, again

Teachers around the world developed remote-teaching skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that war had driven their classes apart again, Ukrainian teachers adapted those skills to teach students across Europe and the world.

Some private online schools like made their materials available free of charge. This step allowed Ukrainian students to study at home if they could not otherwise access schooling because of the war. It also provided a way for Ukrainian refugee children to retain access to school materials in their native language. Still, new obstacles emerged.

Many countries that took in Ukrainian refugees required the children to attend local schools, even if they didn鈥檛 speak the local language. Some children thrived, like the young Ukrainians who their Welsh hosts by learning the local language in less than 12 weeks. Yet for many children, these host country efforts at integration created new problems. In my ongoing ethnographic research, Ukrainian parents described how these attendance requirements left their children frustrated. 鈥淭he children just sit there not understanding anything all day,鈥� one parent told me.

Parents told me that after their children finished these long days in a foreign school, many would begin their day鈥檚 real learning late at night. Parents said Ukrainian language materials gave children the chance to stay on schedule with their grade level back home. Failure to do so might further derail their future state exams and graduation dates.

By nightfall, however, children had lost their most productive educational hours. Harmful spirals soon followed. Even formerly top students experienced exhaustion-driven pressures to copy virtual assignments. Losing their joy of learning added to the strain of the war鈥檚 intense in these young lives.

A focus on education

Ukraine鈥檚 literacy rate is 99.8%, one of the , and education is a national point of . In wartime, Ukraine鈥檚 government is working to adapt its educational system to new realities.

Home schooling is permitted, so long as students can pass standardized tests. Still, many supervising parents are overburdened with the tasks of daily survival in the face of the Russian military鈥檚 relentless on the civilian population. One mother to a reporter that she soothes her children to sleep in bomb shelters before arranging shovels around them in case they become trapped in the rubble of a missile attack. Another mother told me she sends her young child to school with an emergency backpack filled with food, water and clothes in case he becomes trapped with his teachers.

The Russian military has also damaged or destroyed over , adding to construction burdens. When the school year in September, government data indicated that of Ukrainian schools nationwide were able to offer full-time, in-person instruction. Even those that were intact are now required to have a bomb shelter before they can hold in-person lessons. Major have rushed to build bomb shelters for schools, but, even so, many are simple, dirt-floor basements.

In addition, Russia鈥檚 intentional targeting of Ukraine鈥檚 electrical grid and civilian infrastructure poses new dangers to children鈥檚 health and schooling. Power outages have affected an estimated 10 million people, over one-quarter of the Ukrainian population. of Ukraine鈥檚 pupils are enrolled online and need electricity to attend classes and do schoolwork. Continued electrical outages would be a foreboding new hurdle.

Under occupation

The status of children鈥檚 education in Russian-controlled territories is even more alarming. Russia鈥檚 occupation has ushered in new forms of ideological in the classroom. Teachers in the liberated Kharkiv region have spoken of by the Russian military when they refused to teach their students that Ukraine was a territory of Russia.

Ukrainian teachers have also tried to their students from Russia鈥檚 forcible deportations of minors, a crime of under international law.

Courage has become synonymous with global descriptions of Ukrainian citizens enduring war, and teachers exemplify this everyday heroism. Still, Russia鈥檚 targeting of Ukraine鈥檚 youngest citizens unfortunately goes much deeper than the physical devastation of their , and . In a survey of existing educational challenges, one brave parent admitted, 鈥淚 am really scared for the future of our children.鈥�

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