A chance for change: rebuilding schools in Ukraine as a step towards inclusive education without boarding schools

Rebuilding schools in Ukraine is primarily about repairing and or building shelters to protect children from rocket attacks and bombing. Many of the schools remain closed due to a lack of adequate bomb shelters, which significantly disrupts face-to-face education.

But reconstruction should be about more than just shelters. The spaces in which children learn must support mental health, socialization and safe interaction – especially for those with experiences of war, loss, displacement or institutionalized care.

Unfortunately, Ukraine still has one of the highest levels of institutionalization and segregation in special schools. This practice is detrimental to a child’s development, well-being, and social integration. A universally accessible, inclusive educational environment makes it possible to gradually eliminate the need for specialized institutional facilities, creating the conditions for every child to grow up in a family and community.

These topics – at the intersection of architecture, safety, and children’s rights – became one of the focuses of the material by the French publication Libération, prepared for the Venice Architecture Biennale. It tells about the Atlas of Schools project implemented in Zaporizhzhia with the participation of architect Martin Duplantier.

It is about creating underground school spaces that not only protect but can also function as full-fledged inclusive educational environments during and after the war.

“Ukraine maintains one of the highest levels of institutionalized child care and segregation in special schools. Reconstruction should be an opportunity to break with this isolating and weakening system and create an inclusive and comfortable school for every child – with or without disabilities, special educational needs, mental health problems,” Anastasia Stepula, advocacy adviser of the UMDP, comments in the material.

Read more about the architectural solutions, social impact, and new type of school shelters in Libération.