Children in crisis-torn eastern Ukraine ‘too terrified to learn’ amid spike in attacks on schools

UNICEF/Filippov

Sonia’s classmate and friend Oleksii also remembers the date his school was
 shelled for the first time, because it was his father’s birthday...


20 May 2019

Women


Schoolchildren are bearing long-lasting mental and physical scars of eastern 
Ukraine’s conflict, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on 
Monday, as the agency warned of an “alarming” increase in attacks on schools 
during the first four months of 2019.


Since the start of eastern Ukraine’s five-year conflict, more than 750 educational
 facilities on both sides have been damaged or destroyed, UNICEF said, explaining 
there has been a four-fold increase in attacks on schools during the first four
 months of the year, compared to the same period in 2018.

Between January and April, there were 12 attacks on schools, compared to
 three incidents during the same period last year. The alarming increase is
 reminiscent of the violence experienced by schoolchildren and teachers in 
2017, when there were more than 40 attacks on education facilities.

“Daily life at school is disrupted by shelling and shootings, forcing children 
to take cover in school basements and underground bomb shelters. In many
 cases, children have become too terrified to learn,” said Henrietta Fore, 
UNICEF Executive Director.

“Destroyed classrooms surrounded by sandbags to protect children from 
stray bullets are no place for a child to learn. All parties the conflict must 
protect schools and keep children safe,” Ms. Fore said.

UNICEF called for an immediate end to the fighting and the protection of
 children at all times. The agency also urged all governments, including 
Ukraine, to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, an intergovernmental 
political commitment to take concrete measures to protect students, 
educators and educational facilities from deliberate and indiscriminate 
attack during armed conflict.

Next week, the government of Spain will host the third International 
on Safe Schools, an opportunity for states to highlight the progress they
 have made in implementing the Declaration.

UNICEF said it is working with partners across eastern Ukraine to provide
 much-needed counselling, psychosocial support, and information on the 
risks of mines to hundreds of thousands of children, youth and caregivers 
affected by the conflict.

The agency is also providing support to education facilities so that repairs
 to damaged schools and kindergartens can be made, and education supplies 
such as educational kits, furniture and sport equipment can be replaced.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/05/1038861
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