savED Charity Foundation and Slovak partners launch underground educational space for children in Dnipropetrovsk region
Photo: savED Charity Fund
The savED charity foundation, in collaboration with Slovak international partners, has established an underground educational space for children in the Apostolivska community of the Dnipropetrovsk region. This renovated shelter has been inaugurated in the local cultural center.
savED reports this, according to ShoTam.
What is the problem?
As noted, Apostolove is located between Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol, several dozen kilometers from the combat zone. On the night of July 23, 2022, the Russian army destroyed all three lyceums in the city. Because of this, about two thousand students studied online for more than two years in a row.
What is the solution?
In 2024, the SavED charity foundation created a digital education center based on the House of Culture in Apostolove. At that time, the initiative was implemented within the framework of a project of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This allowed schoolchildren to join extracurricular clubs and make up for educational losses with teachers under the savED catch-up program.
"So that children from front-line areas can gain socialization skills and sit at real desks, and not study exclusively online, the priority for the foundation is flexible and comprehensive solutions in communities," savED co-founder Anna Putsova noted.
How does this solution work?
The cultural center completed the shelter's educational space in early 2025.
"In the city of Apostolove in the Dnipropetrovsk region, we started with an educational center but continued to supplement this solution and, eventually, created underground classrooms in the shelter there and also equipped an additional modular educational space in the city," she added.
Photo: savED Foundation
Photo: savED Foundation
According to her, all this has already made it possible to conduct offline educational activities for over 600 students in the community.
The space has been created with several classrooms and a restroom based on the principles of inclusiveness. Up to 150 children can study there simultaneously.
Photo: savED Foundation
Photo: savED Foundation
Also, in the future, the cultural center in the city will function as a temporary school. The savED Foundation plans to create several more new classes.
Photo: savED Foundation
Photo: savED Foundation
The savED Foundation facilitated the renovation and arrangement of the shelter, a project exceeding 3.2 million hryvnias, with financial support from the Open Society Foundation Bratislava and the Pontis Foundation.
For reference:
The savED Charity Foundation restores access to education in communities affected by the war. The organization equips shelters and underground educational spaces, restores schools, and involves teenagers in reconstructing and developing their communities through the UActive program. The Foundation works in five regions of Ukraine: Chernihiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk.
It is worth mentioning that an anti-radiation shelter was repaired in Kharkiv. Three hundred and forty-five city schoolchildren and students will be able to study in this space.
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