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On a Saturday morning, the halls of Petrivskyi Lyceum were filled with life. Children debated, refined their arguments, and gathered for photos following a “Debate Start” competition. But by evening, shattered glass littered the classrooms, and fragmentation marks scarred the building’s walls and facade. The school – vibrant with activity only hours earlier – was left partially unfit for learning. On September 19, the village of Stari Petrivtsi in the Kyiv region came under Russian attack. The blast wave and shrapnel severely damaged the main building of Petrivskyi Lyceum, shattering windows, gutting classrooms, and damaging a school bus. The strike caused human casualties, killing a local teenager who was passing by the school alongside his mother when the explosion hit.

Primary school gives a child the tools for exploring the world and lifelong learning. First, students learn to read, and later, in middle and high school, they read to learn. If students do not master reading comprehension in the early grades, it inevitably leads to difficulties in learning mathematics and natural sciences.

“We had been eagerly looking forward to the start of the school year at our new school. We couldn’t wait to get to know our students, teach engaging, interactive lessons, and see the children return to a full and vibrant school life. But once again, reality shattered all our hopes.

The PISA-2025 results have shown that despite the full-scale war, Ukrainian teenagers managed to maintain their educational performance at approximately the 2022 level. However, the problems remain severe: depending on the subject, between 35% and 46% of students lack basic knowledge and skills, and the gap between students from large cities and villages is equivalent to about three years of schooling. At the same time, the majority of teenagers believe that abilities can be developed, and they use artificial intelligence for learning more often than their peers in OECD countries.

“The Redheaded Idea Generator” — that’s what one of her classmates called Yulia Zdanovska. Yulia repeatedly won national and international competitions in computer science and mathematics, and took silver at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad. A teacher, a mathematician, a volunteer — she dreamed of becoming an education reformer.

For many people around the world, news about Ukraine has become an endless stream of headlines. For us, it is our everyday reality—one in which our team, Fellows, alumni, teachers, and the children we work with continue to live and work under constant attack. 

The question "What do you want to be?" often sounds to a teenager less like a space for imagination and more like a source of immense pressure. Sixteen-year-olds are expected to make a decision that will impact the rest of their lives: choose a career path, successfully pass exams, and plan their future. However, making this choice consciously is nearly impossible when you simply do not know what options exist. To develop an interest in a specific field, one must first understand how it works. This is the purpose of career guidance programs, such as those provided by DHL and Teach For Ukraine, which enable teenagers from small communities to experience the operations of a major logistics company firsthand.

The 3.5 million children born during the 12 years of Russia's war against Ukraine represent a generation with a unique and complex experience, one that has no time to wait for global crises to end. These children are fundamentally changing the demands placed on education: a modern school must work proactively, teaching resilience, critical thinking, and the ability to drive change in conditions of uncertainty.

As Ukrainian children continued learning through another year of war, Teach For Ukraine worked not only to meet today's urgent needs, but also to help shape the future of education in Ukraine.  Throughout 2025, we supported children in recovering learning loss, empowered teachers, and developed the next generation of education leaders. But this year also marked an important shift in our own journey. We began transforming solutions developed through our work in schools and communities into evidence, partnerships, and national initiatives that can strengthen Ukraine's education system well beyond the reach of our own programmes. This report looks back on a year of growth, partnership, and system change. It highlights the progress we've made together and the priorities that will guide our work in the year ahead. 

Україна — одна з небагатьох країн у світі, де координацію гуманітарного реагування в освіті було передано від Кластера освіти до відповідних органів державної влади, і перша, яка зробила це в умовах активної повномасштабної війни.

The Hrebinka Lyceum in Kyiv Oblast has been welcoming Teach For Ukraine Fellows for several years in a row. Principal Yuliia shares how they took the leap, what surprised them — and why they keep applying again every year.

Teach For Ukraine launched a new large-scale phase of collaboration with UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) in Ukraine in April 2026. This year-long initiative is aimed at providing comprehensive support to the education system in emergency settings and addressing learning losses in four frontline oblasts: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.