Ukrainian government allocates funding to schools to build bomb shelters

The Ukrainian government approved an educational grant-in-aid for bomb shelters in schools.

The newly appointed Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, reported that the primary task of the ministry is to increase the number of children studying full-time. According to the minister, his department considers all security aspects, including the availability of shelters and school buses.

Due to Russia's war in Ukraine, most Ukrainian schools are studying remotely or in a hybrid format due to hostilities, shelling, air raids, and occupation. According to the minister, his department considers all security aspects of returning children to schools, including the availability of shelters and school buses.

The Cabinet of Ministers' resolution stresses that it is necessary to comply with the requirements and building regulations, particularly ensuring the accessibility and safety of facilities for populations with reduced mobility when building new shelters.

"According to our data, about 30% of public secondary education institutions in Ukraine do not have bomb shelters," the education minister. "So, UAH 1.5 billion of state subsidies will go to local budgets to provide safe conditions in secondary education institutions."

Minister Lisovyi added that these funds are distributed among regions based on the number of students who study remotely or in mixed formats. According to regulations, shelters should be designed for at least 250-300 people.

The shelters will not only be financed by grant-in-aid: part of the costs must be covered by local budgets (from 5% to 30%).

The largest grant-in-aid is allocated to:

• Kharkiv region – UAH 224.7 million;
• Kyiv region – UAH 163.4 million;
• Dnipropetrovsk region – UAH 154.7 million.

The smallest budget is set for shelter in the Luhansk region, only UAH 6 million, since most of the territory is currently occupied by Russian forces.

Oksen Lisovyi added that the government also approved a grant-in-aid to purchase school buses. UAH 1 billion was allocated from the budget.

"The distribution of this money between regions took place in proportion to the number of students who need transportation to educational institutions. Today, this is approximately 300,000 children across the country," he said.