First underground school with 700 places opened in Odesa region

An underground school-shelter was opened in Odesa region. Photo: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

An underground school-shelter for 700 people was opened in the village of Molodizhne, Odesa Oblast. It was built from scratch on the basis of the Molodizhne Lyceum.

This was reported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

The construction programme was initiated and funded by the European Union and Lithuania, as well as co-financed by the Irish government. The construction cost of the shelter is 2.4 million euros, of which approximately 75 thousand euros were spent on interior equipment.

The shelter is equipped with classrooms, two gyms, a psychological relief room and exercise therapy. There is a special lift for people in wheelchairs — 14 children with special educational needs are currently studying at the lyceum.

Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyi noted that almost one in seven schools in Ukraine has been damaged or destroyed, and about 430,000 students are deprived of access to full-time education.

An underground school-shelter was opened in Odesa region. Photo: MES

An underground shelter school was opened in Odesa region. Photo: MES

The «New Bomb Shelters for Ukrainian Schools» programme is funded by the European Union (€15 million) and the Lithuanian government through the Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Fund (€500,000), with a contribution from the Irish government (€3 million). The next shelters will be built in Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. Each shelter will accommodate 500 to 1,000 people.

An underground school-shelter was opened in Odesa region. Photo: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

As a reminder, during the emergency restoration of the historic Mykola Arkas Lyceum building, the contractor found an unknown passage underground. Experts are currently investigating its origin.