According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Education, as of February 2025, there are 600,000 Ukrainian children living in temporarily occupied territories. Only 7% of them are still studying within Ukraine’s education system. But occupation has impacted more than just students. Even after liberation, teachers are still adjusting to a new version of normal.
Tetiana Olehivna hadn’t really thought about how dangerous — even absurd — it was to be a Ukrainian language teacher under occupation. She only began to realize it when her husband asked her outright. In Kherson, schools had already replaced Ukrainian flags with Russian tricolors and “resumed” education under the occupation regime. Her village anxiously awaited the same. Because Tetiana’s mother was bedridden and needed care, she couldn’t flee to Ukrainian-controlled territory. Her entire family stayed behind with her. “Tania,” her husband told her, “all we have left here are a physics teacher, an English teacher, and two primary school teachers. They can all keep working under the occupation. But you? You’ll be executed.”
So how are Ukraine’s schools recovering after de-occupation? Journalists from The Ukrainians visited one of the schools participating in the project Ukrainian Education Response Consortium: Safe Return to Learning to tell their story.
