At the same time, the European Union pays significant attention to rebuilding and rehabilitating schools and other educational facilities destroyed by the war to enable them to continue their regular activities.
Amid the full-scale aggression, the EU has allocated
EUR 100 million
in budget support and grants to ensure safe learning for Ukrainian school children.
This assistance is earmarked for the recovery of schools, arranging learning spaces, psychological support for children, teachers, and guardians, conducting a mine safety awareness campaign for school children, etc. The EU budgetary assistance to Ukraine provides for renovations in more than 280 schools in 19 regions. This includes mainly remedial actions to repair damaged walls, roofs, windows, etc. caused by hostilities.
The European Union allocated
EUR 15 million
to build new school shelters in Ukraine.
Lithuania is contributing an additional EUR 0.5 million and taking responsibility for implementing the project. The construction of shelters for the selected schools in Chernihiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhya, Kharkiv and Odesa will allow about
5,000 students
to return to offline studies in a year and a half perspective.
The EU’s top priority is to bring back as soon as possible Ukrainian children back to school. Today we are delivering on our promise to support the rehabilitation of schools damaged and destroyed by Russia’s brutal war. The future of Ukraine begins with its children back in schools.
The European Union has provided Ukraine with two multi-sectoral loans totalling
EUR 540 million
to renovate social infrastructure, including schools.
As of September 2024, renovations are underway in 11 regions at 20 facilities, with plans to renovate 9 more schools and pre-school establishments. In the second phase of the programme, 80 schools in 10 regions of Ukraine will be renovated, with a total cost estimate of EUR 158.6 million. Renovation works have already commenced at 19 facilities.
In 2023–2024, GIZ is implementing Phase II of U-LEAD with Europe, ‘Rehabilitating Local Schools for Resilience’, with a budget of EUR 5 million funded through the European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instrument. Another five schools in five major cities of Ukraine will be rehabilitated with EU funding (EUR 1.4 million) by June 2025 as part of the ‘EU4Resilient Regions’ project, also implemented by GIZ.
Through the implementation of DG ECHO projects and programmes, 226 schools will be renovated and 118 shelters for school children will be equipped. Mine safety training will be delivered for more than 16 000 students and teachers, psychological assistance will be provided to more than 42 000 students and teachers, edutainment resources will be distributed to more than 200 000 children, and 38 digital learning centres will be created. The same centres are being established within the framework of the joint U-LEAD and ICF ‘savED’ school recovery project in Ukraine, with a budget of
almost EUR 600 000.
