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Ukraine, 5 June 2025 – Save the Children has enabled access to safe, inclusive learning environments for over 10,000 children in Ukraine through Digital Learning Centers, shelter renovations, and equipment upgrades, thanks to the support of Swiss Solidarity.
The full-scale war in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022, disrupted the education of around 4 million children – the vast majority of school students across the country. To address the crisis of online learning and lack of safety during the education process, Swiss Solidarity pledged 2.1 million Swiss francs to Save the Children, aiming to provide safe access to in-person learning and strengthen wellbeing for conflict-affected girls and boys across the Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Under Swiss Solidarity funding, 16 Digital Learning Centers continued to operate and ensured access to online education for children from displaced and low-income families, including those with three or more children. Each center was equipped to accommodate children with disabilities through accessible infrastructure such as ramps. Additionally, 13 educational institutions received inclusive development kits with tailored learning materials and tools to support children with disabilities and their special educational needs.
Furthermore, seven kindergartens and eight schools in Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions underwent shelter renovations and were supplied with essential equipment and furniture, enabling them to function as temporary learning spaces for children during air alerts.
The project trained 90 teachers and facilitators in the Healing and Education through the Arts (HEART) package. HEART kits were distributed and used to facilitate 10 structured sessions per group, promoting psychosocial well-being in schools and Digital Learning Centers. The project also organized three Education in Emergencies trainings in partnership with the Education Cluster. These sessions strengthened local organizational capacities to respond to education needs in crisis settings.
As part of the project with the financial support of Swiss Solidarity, Save the Children renovated a shelter in the school in Zaporizhzhia where Svitlana*, a displaced teacher, works and where her son Illia* studies in the first grade.
Svitlana*, displaced elementary school teacher, who is raising her son alone, said:
“When I sat down to teach my first class after I left Mariupol, I realized how much I had missed it. After all the hiding and fleeing the war, I realized that I missed having a class to teach. It’s something I’m good at.
“I am grateful for the safe place to conduct my lessons with children. It’s comfortable when you have such wonderful, multi-colored walls, when you have all the modern furniture, and there are modern school boards. Of course, we are very satisfied and very happy because there is an opportunity to meet in such difficult times. To be honest, it is safer for me to work here than at home, and it is safer when my child is also here.”
Sonia Khush, Country Director for Save the Children in Ukraine, said:
“For over three years, Ukraine has endured an unjust war. Children continue to face constant stress from ongoing attacks and air raids, both day and night. Following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, during the war times many schools remain closed or have had to modify their schedules – operating in two or even three shifts – due to the lack or poor condition of bomb shelters.
I am deeply grateful to Swiss Solidarity for supporting this vital program, which has helped restore a sense of safety and normalcy in children's education. Thanks to this support, we were able to help over 10,000 children access learning in remote areas of the country – regions under constant shelling where education has become a rare and difficult opportunity.
With international support, we remain committed to helping those most vulnerable – children and families who continue to suffer the devastating impacts of war.”
Save the Children is a partner organisation of Swiss Solidarity, an independent foundation created by SRG SSR, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, to express the Swiss people’s will to support victims of natural disasters and conflicts.
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Svitlana*, 38, displaced elementary school teacher raising her son alone
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About Save the Children in Ukraine
Save the Children has been working in Ukraine since 2014 and has scaled up operations since the war escalated in February 2022. The organisation is working closely with multiple partners to provide life-saving assistance such as food and water, cash transfers, and safe spaces, to make sure children and families impacted by this crisis have the support they need.
For more information please contact:
Polina Sydorchuk, polina.sydorchuk@savethechildren.org
Senior Public Relations and Media Coordinator
Our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409