Kharkiv opens fourth underground school for 1,000 students

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced the opening to journalists, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"This school is designed for nearly 1,000 students. As of today, 808 children are already enrolled. I want to say that the demand is enormous -- every day, parents call and come in, eager to enroll their children. It was very important for us to open this school in the city center," the mayor said.

The construction cost the city budget approximately UAH 107 million. The Kharkiv IT Cluster provided equipment for the computer science classroom and multimedia whiteboards.

Classes have already begun and are held in two shifts.

"This is the fourth underground school in the city, and each one is unique, with its own design tailored to the needs of the specific district where it's located. All four schools are different, but they share one key feature: they fully meet modern safety standards and were built in accordance with the latest 2023 state building codes," said Olha Demenko, head of the city's education department.

According to her, with the opening of this school in the Shevchenkivskyi district, nearly 9,000 children in Kharkiv are now enrolled in blended (online and in-person) learning formats.

On April 21, Kharkiv opened another underground school for nearly 400 students in the remote Osnovianskyi district. Construction of three more underground schools is ongoing, and the city is also developing its first underground kindergarten.