Teaching kids safely in Kharkiv is a dilemma for local authorities as the city lies 35 kilometers south of Russia. CGTN’s Iolo ap Dafydd reports on the underground schools created in Kharkiv’s metro system.
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00:00For many in this class, it's their first taste of school, but it's not a traditional one.
00:07Here, a hundred school children are taught underground in this metro station.
00:12Some are keen and excited, for others it's all a bit tiring.
00:16But socializing and getting to know new friends and a new teacher is important.
00:22Victoria has taught for 33 years, but never in an underground classroom.
00:29The children need something completely different to communicate,
00:34to experience more affection maybe, and get used to listening to each other.
00:39Now we need to interest the children more and make it work for them.
00:43Up to five primary schools use these makeshift classrooms,
00:47but with limited room, the classes are rotated,
00:50with children attending either in the morning or afternoon.
00:54Three times a week, for up to three hours, infant and primary age children
00:58come here to one of the six metro schools underground in Kharkiv.
01:03All their other lessons are online.
01:06Several thousand pupils now attend.
01:09As well as a nurse, two education psychologists are on hand
01:12to assess how children are coping at a time of tension and fear.
01:17I feel very worried.
01:19I feel anxious when there are explosions outside the school boundaries.
01:22For example, when there are air raids near our area,
01:24or when the siren goes off and the children just got to school.
01:27At the moment, in my opinion, there's both anxiety and concern.
01:30All this is transmitted from the parents,
01:32because they're very worried about the lives of their children.
01:34When the children get to school, they relax.
01:38Air raid warnings are loud and clear,
01:40a necessity because of the daily dangers of missiles and rockets.
01:46Below ground, the metro trains keep running as long as there's power.
01:50There is a surreal normality in an abnormal situation.
01:56Learning by playing is a way to encourage kids to socialize
01:59and teach them not to be afraid of leaving their homes.
02:04We started with 1,000 children, then we had 2,500.
02:08By now, 4,400 children are studying in safe conditions at metro schools,
02:14and the demand has grown.
02:17Some schools have been bombed, all have been closed,
02:20pushing the majority of classes for Harkid's pupils online.
02:25After three hours underground, the children rush out to see their parents.
02:30How things are, this is the best we can hope for,
02:33because distance learning or online for primary school children is very complicated.
02:39They are going to school, and this is very good.
02:41We want these schools to be near our home,
02:43so they can spend time with other children.
02:47A subterranean school is far from most children's experience,
02:51but as the school day ends, it does have one major advantage.
02:54The right home for the students and their parents is literally a few steps away.
02:59YOLO Avdavit, CGTN, Harkid, Ukraine.