To create “from scratch”, and not to restore the Soviet one: to the discussion about the destroyed school libraries

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More than three thousand educational institutions were damaged by the Russian occupiers, more than 260 were destroyed. This is almost 11% of all educational institutions in Ukraine, and most of them are schools. Such data was made public by the saveED Charitable Foundation at the discussion “School library: (post)war vision” at the 11th Book Arsenal. Together with the schools, their libraries were destroyed – not only the premises, but also the books and textbooks themselves. And they must be rebuilt together with schools, and this is a chance to make school libraries the present, not the past. And the Ministry of Education is ready to experiment with the creation of completely new book spaces in restored schools, even without the involvement of librarians. This was stated by the Minister of Education Oksen Lisovyi at this discussion. Together with him, the director of the destroyed school in Nowy Bykov, Chernihiv region, Nataliya Vovk, the head of the children’s reading promotion project “BaraBooka” Tetyana Stus, and the director of saveED Olenka Severynchuk took part in the conversation. This conversation was listened to and recorded for UP.Zhyttia in text and pictures by journalist Oksana Semenik and illustrator Maria Kinovich. On February 27, Russian occupation troops entered the village of Novy Bykiv in Chernihiv Oblast. The school is located near the road, so it was the first building they occupied. Under the school there was a huge shelter where the Russians lived and kept their weapons – the school was a safe place for them. Natalia Vovk, the director of this rural school, tells this story in the completely filled Lecture Hall of the capital’s Art Arsenal. The occupiers left a message on the school wall saying “Don’t touch the museum. We weren’t going to.” On March 30, the village was liberated. Almost immediately, Mrs. Natalya and her colleagues went to “check” the school. It was badly damaged, especially the library premises. The school library of Novy Bykov consists of two rooms: one holds textbooks, and the other holds fiction. The room with textbooks was badly damaged: all the books were burned, only ashes remained. Another room was turned into a very dark room: the occupiers covered the windows with books and foamed them to hold them. Already on May 10, the school resumed training, essentially counseling for those children who stayed or started to return to the village. “When we stepped onto the school grounds after the deoccupation, we saw that there was nothing – no laptops, no tablets, no textbooks, no light. But the book is the basis of the basics. With new textbooks, we could resume learning. And we started looking for them.” – recalls Mrs. Natalya. When journalists started coming to the village, educators told them about the need for textbooks. Many people from abroad wrote in the social network, sending funds for the purchase of books. Local businessmen also helped restore the school library funds in the destroyed and looted village. “We ordered textbooks all summer and resumed our studies by September 1. I learned a lot about the Russian-Ukrainian war, when we started writing off Russian literature – the shelves were very empty. We were brought up with Russian literature,” says Vovk. They announced that they were accepting donations of books for children and teenagers and received many new books. “For the first time in 22 years of working at the school, I have seen so many new Ukrainian books in the school library,” concluded the director of the Novy Bykov school. Maria Kinovych drew this illustration during the discussion “School library: (post)war vision” at the 11th Book Arsenal. Courtesy of Art Arsenal. “The school library was neglected [міністерства] many decades. They have huge potential but have been devalued. This crisis can allow to reach a new level with new content. We [як міністерство] we see the library as a social space that unites children,” says Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi. Olenka Severenchuk, director of the saveED fund, which was founded by the former Minister of Education Anna Novosad together with the GoGlobal educational foundation to restore schools damaged by the war, agrees with this. They find funds for the reconstruction of schools, as well as for equipping them with furniture, equipment, educational materials and literature. savED works with educational institutions in Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Mykolaiv region, Kherson region and Kharkiv region. “A book is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to hide from the horror that experienced by people in the occupied territories. We saw in the de-occupied regions how children who did not have access to libraries, first because of covid, and then because of the war, gather around books.” Children’s writer, founder and head of the children’s reading promotion project “BaraBooka” Tetiana Stus believes that the school is the most effective place in the promotion of reading for children: “Children need to read modern living literature, not only about serfdom. Together with the Ukrainian Book Institute, we made lists of recommended literature for school libraries. But the issue is not only about purchases or financing.” She explains that what distinguishes a school library is the space itself, which is unfriendly to children and mandatory literature for study, where there are almost no living authors. The system of school libraries has not changed since Soviet times. The main function now there is the storage and distribution of textbooks to students. But also before, no one updated the funds, so there were many Soviet propaganda books left in the library. Oksen Lisovyi remembers the last year in the ZSU, when he and his comrades held the defense in the Donetsk region. It was “zero”, that is, the territory on which hostilities took place. The school in the village was destroyed, but the library survived. “I say [побратимам], let’s save books. To be honest, we saved about 10 books of Ukrainian classics. Shelves were stuffed with Russian literature.” The minister believes that Russian literature is not competitive, because it is “ideological and cynical.” “Ukrainians are successful when they are free and go beyond the rules. We are still one foot in a system that was formed to raise an obedient cog in the system. whose school Detector, teacher, community? It should be shared and the teenager should be able to influence, in particular, the filling of the library. A citizen is formed at school.” What should change in the school library? The Ministry of Education and Science is planning an experiment of a new type of libraries and book spaces. These will be open library funds, where you can take any book without the involvement of a librarian. This is a direct combination of a child and a book and according to the Minister of Education, this trust justifies itself. “In the post-colonial society, control and mistrust remain. When we establish control over books, we limit,” Lisovyi believes. He agrees that books will be lost. That’s why it is necessary to lay down funds for the constant renewal of funds. The main idea of ​​this experiment is also that this is a social space where “children hang out and freely interact with the book.” And in order for them to enter this space, books must be a magnet. Lisovyi suggests that librarians, students and parents can independently choose what to buy in school libraries. Recommendations regarding literature should be soft, but with a present curatorial look. “This is a space for the creativity of teachers and children,” Lisovyi believes. “I think parents and children will want to join such a space and donate their books.” You can start these changes yourself: open funds and reorganize the shelves , paint the walls, a couple of ottomans to sit on, invite to donate books for the library. “The destruction may even have been beneficial. The literature in school libraries is such that children cannot be allowed to read it. Now it is easier to build a new space on these ruins,” says Stus.

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