“I look at the school – but it is not there”: 4 stories of students whose classes were destroyed by Russia

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During the year of the full-scale war, the Russians damaged 3,051 educational institutions and destroyed 420. Children studied in their walls. And in some of the damaged schools, students have even returned to offline learning. To the anniversary of the Great War, the savED charitable foundation, which takes care of these schools destroyed by Russia, tells 4 stories of schoolchildren of such institutions for “UP.Zhyttia”. Next is the direct speech of the students. Dmytro Kumanovsky, 10th grader, studied at school No. 21, Chernihiv On the afternoon of March 3, I was sitting at home in my room and reading the news. Then I heard a sharp loud sound. Whistling in the direction of the school. I jumped up. I understood that a projectile or rocket was flying to the school or something nearby. When the explosion happened, friends who live nearby started writing to me: “It flew into the school.” They sent photos and videos. They could see a completely destroyed building, smoke, broken windows, broken doors… Then news started to appear quickly. I was very worried about the friends who live near the school and have not yet written to me. After all, they were not among the victims. Huh It was difficult for me to understand that this could happen. I sat in my room with the feeling that 9 years had passed in vain. I do not know why. Back on February 23, we were sitting at school, having fun, we had a normal life. And there is no school for a week. I rewatched videos and photos with classmates and friends – it was a pity. I wanted to go back to that time. My friends and I watched it together, we were sad. It dawned on me that the school was destroyed and I would never go back there. Like the other 600 students. Dmytro Kumanovsky near his destroyed school After this incident, my family and I left Ukraine for Italy. And they returned to Chernihiv in September. In the 10th grade, I went to another school, because in the 21st year, education was only up to the 9th grade. There was nowhere else to go… Nevertheless, on September 3, I came to school to see the ruins. It was interesting. And then sadness came. The gymnasium was half-destroyed, almost all the windows were broken, and the walls were hit in some places. Some classrooms on the 2nd or 3rd floors remain, but they are also without windows. I remember looking at the school, but it was gone. My friends managed to get used to it, but it was difficult for me to accept it. Currently, entry to the school is prohibited, there is a danger of complete destruction. It is checked from time to time by the police and the military. You can’t study there at all. Completely. Only build from scratch… What is left of school No. 21 in Chernihiv I am currently studying at school No. 3. The inspiration to study during the war is provided by my new friends, we have many common topics, you can share your thoughts. Everything is decided by people. Life goes on. Sofia Kakun, 9th-grader at the school in the village of Ploske, Kyiv Oblast I went to Khmelnytskyi Oblast during the occupation of the village. And three of my classmates stayed. Two Russian tanks “parked” near our school. When they were broken on March 26, part of the school began to burn: the gymnasium and the museum. Several classrooms also burned down and flew into ours. Those who were not in the village learned about it the next day. Everyone was shocked. A video was uploaded to our chat in which a teacher holds a bell in her hands and films things burning in the school. She said that the bell was almost the only thing they were able to take out of the school… The teacher also said that people from the house next door tried to put out the fire with their own efforts. Although there was almost no water in the village at that time. People poured their last to save the school. It seemed to me that she was gone. I felt fear and uncertainty. It hurt, my head was spinning. Sofia Kakun, 9th-grader at school in the village of Ploske, Kyiv Region When the village was de-occupied and my family and I returned, I immediately ran to school. And what I saw looked bigger than what I saw in the video. Two Russian tanks were still standing near the school. And small children were playing near them. It was creepy. I am most sorry for the destroyed museum. We spent a lot of time there, not only in lessons. We often just sat there and talked. It was cozy there. Another memorable place is the gym. I wanted to come there, there was a basketball club. On February 23, we had our last class. In our classroom, there was only a hole in the wall, the blackboard and desks were slightly damaged – there are still traces of the impact. The rest is in place. Now – face-to-face training. The burned part of the school was painted and described by the students. There are abusive inscriptions, and about the fact that we are sad. Of course, there are some inconveniences during training. The computer science office burned down, they built another one, but there are much older computers. Instead of a gym, tables were placed in the large dining room and tennis courts were installed. That’s how we get out. And before that, in physical education, we played chess and checkers in classes. At first, it was not very comfortable to be next to the tanks and the fire and understand what happened here. Now they are used to it. Students do not pay much attention to this. Is the 11th grade, which will be graduated this year, planning to arrange a photo shoot against the background of the ruins to leave a memory of it. A destroyed gymnasium at a school in the village of Ploske, Kyiv Oblast. Our school is the center of the village. Many fellow villagers gather near her even in the evening. Everyone rests here or at the stadium near the school. And this has not changed, despite the fact that the school is destroyed. But I would like to restore everything that was at school. All. This will be enough. I want to move on and not sit still – and Russia will not take that away from me. We should not dwell on what happened. If no one does anything, the country will decline. And we don’t want that. That’s why I get up every day and go to school again, which is being rebuilt little by little. It gives hope. Sofiya Ponomarenko, 11th-grader at the Mykhailo-Kotsyubinsky Lyceum, Chernihiv Region That day we were at home with our family. They sat with their stepsister in the room. Mom went to get eggs in the chicken coop, and my sister’s father was in the shower. Despite the fact that everyone was doing their own thing, we all heard a loud sound. Explosion. The walls of the house began to shake. It became very scary. My sister and I ran into the corridor in which we had been hiding since February 24, when there were shellings, if we did not have time to run to the cellar. Mom managed to hide in the crypt. So we waited out the shelling. In half an hour everything calmed down and my mother came home. And the first news about where they were hit began. To my school. Sofiya Ponomarenko, 11th-grader at the Mykhailo-Kotsyubinsky Lyceum, Chernihiv Oblast. My first thought was: “Well, that’s it, studies won’t resume.” Not specifically studying at my school – but that it will never end. The war will not end. It became even scarier when the network appeared. Friends began to post videos on social networks of how they were helping to clear debris. After taking a closer look, my classmates and I understood what had hit our class. Chemistry and biology class. When we came to the school before September 1, we were allowed to enter the dilapidated premises together with the teachers. It was sad, because we had many plans for the 11th grade. For example, make a board with our photos, hang garlands in the classroom. We wanted to make the classroom even cozier to spend the last school year there. We also wanted to organize more events and participate in them. After all, before that, our class was not very friendly. And mostly 4-5 people did everything in the class. In the summer, we managed to become friends. And the class is gone. And we can’t do anything about it. Some impotence. We looked at everything, felt sad and encouraged each other: “Everything will be fine, let’s hold on.” Now the school is undergoing renovations, and we are studying remotely. My dream is for the school to be completely intact, to continue studying full-time. In the 11th grade, it is difficult to do it remotely – soon the external examination or NMT. A digital education center recently appeared at the school – and we immediately fell in love with it. Film clubs, political clubs and other interesting events are held there. I have already gone several times. You can also study there if there is no internet or electricity at home. We have a place to put ourselves. And we are going to school to learn the waltz little by little. So we spend time there in rehearsals – we hope that the graduation will take place. He is alone in life. Little by little, we choose the music, the girls choose dresses for the last bell. I really want some sense of normalcy. Sofia in the destroyed lyceum In general, I would like everything to be as it was before. I want to study normally. In his school. I have motivation, I can see my future. I want not just to “be”, but to influence what will happen. And while I do everything that depends on it. Bohdan Boyko, 11th-grader of Zhytomyr Lyceum No. 25 On March 4, a Russian rocket hit the school. I live a 5 minute walk from it so I heard a loud explosion. I looked out the window and saw a lot of dust and paper. I went to the city pubs and saw what had flown into the school. I realized that the paper I saw was notebooks, magazines, books. Everyone was writing in the class chat, sending news. Classmates were shocked, some cursed, some regretted, and some recorded voice messages, sobbing. The realization that the school I attended for 10 years had been destroyed came within 2-3 hours. I cried. Although I am not at all sentimental. Bohdan Boyko, 11th-grader of Zhytomyr Lyceum No. 25 The next day I went to see what was left of the school. I wanted to check it myself. I walked and imagined that there was only dust. After all, this is a well-aimed missile hit. When he approached, he saw that the left wing of the school was gone. It flew into the assembly hall, the gym, the dining room, half of the classrooms, such as chemistry and computer science. In fact, half the school just collapsed. In the other half, all the windows were blown out and the ceiling on the upper floors collapsed. My favorite place in school was classroom 36 – the class in which we spent 80% of our time. I wanted to see what was left of him. Went up to the third floor. The passage was jammed, so I never got to the fourth. This building was my second home. After all, I came there 5 days a week, 9 months a year for 10 years. But I had no emotions: no fear, no pity, no desire to cry. There was a void. When I met a classmate for the first time in a long time, she said that she did not know what would happen next. Then I found out that many of my classmates felt the same way. Many thought that history was destroyed along with the destroyed premises. Then I thought that the building is not so important to me as the people and the memories associated with them. A few days after the school was destroyed, the teachers came to see if anything had survived. It was possible to save many books and textbooks, magazines, photo albums. I can only imagine what it was like for teachers, especially those who devoted half of their lives to teaching. These didactic materials are no less important for them, because it is a part of their life, their work. My mother helped the teachers to look for what survived and to rake the debris. She is much more sentimental than me. Every time I went there to help, I cried. What’s left of Bohdan’s school Nowadays, premises in the local school have been allocated for teaching primary classes. And students of grades 5-11 were given a choice: either to study face-to-face in the premises of another school, or remotely. I chose remote. I know that many EU countries are now starting to help with the reconstruction of our lyceum. I definitely gave interviews to Italian journalists, so Italy is among the countries. And also Spain and Portugal. The savED Charitable Foundation with the City Council and partners are developing a new concept, strategy, and programs for the restored Lyceum. Recently, at a session of the city council of Zhytomyr, they decided to allocate funds for the demolition of the remains of the building in order to build a new educational institution on the site of the lyceum. Apparently, they did an examination and realized that there was nothing to restore. There is a sports ground near the school. Children and teenagers often play near its ruins. That’s all the activity. Although by the time I graduate from school, they definitely won’t have time to build a new one, but I really want it to happen! And I also want the number of the lyceum to remain the same – 25. So that the lyceum is not erased from memory, and its history continues. This reconstruction will be a symbol of our small victory. Still, the lyceum was destroyed, but not destroyed. And I study further. If I’m being protected on the front lines, soldiers are risking their lives every day, can’t I at least study? I don’t risk my life even 1% like they do. I have to study so that later I can rebuild Ukraine and provide all possible support to the military, who will return to peaceful life. This is my duty. Maria Markovska (Buleiko), specially for “UP.Zhyttia”

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