Andriivka is a small village in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. Alongside many other villages in Ukraine, it was thrust into the middle of a humanitarian crisis when the conflict escalated in February 2022. Andriivka felt the severity of the conflict almost immediately: from the very first days, hostilities turned the everyday life of locals into a struggle for survival.
Lessons amid ruins: Andriivka’s schooling struggle during the war
Shelling and bombardment destroyed or severely damaged local houses and village infrastructure, including the council building, the community centre and a school with a kindergarten. Despite the presence of Russian military forces on school premises, however, education continued at home.
Recovery began when Russian military forces left the village. The local community worked to rebuild the school with the support of international organisations, including the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). But the horrors of the conflict also had lasting psychological effects on Andriivka’s children. NRC’s Better Learning Programme (BLP) is helping children in Andriivka and elsewhere in Ukraine to readjust to everyday life and learning.
Shelling and bombardment destroyed or severely damaged local houses and village infrastructure, including the council building, the community centre and a school with a kindergarten. Despite the presence of Russian military forces on school premises, however, education continued at home.
Recovery began when Russian military forces left the village. The local community worked to rebuild the school with the support of international organisations, including the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). But the horrors of the conflict also had lasting psychological effects on Andriivka’s children. NRC’s Better Learning Programme (BLP) is helping children in Andriivka and elsewhere in Ukraine to readjust to everyday life and learning.
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Classrooms destroyed, and a kindergarten burnt down
Leonid Khomenko studied at Andriivka School as a child. Today, he is its principal, having taught biology and chemistry to high school students for over 40 years. Leonid recalls the countless difficulties the school faced during and after the presence of Russian military forces.
When the conflict in Ukraine escalated in 2022, the school in Andriivka became a base for the Russian armed forces. They set up a headquarters in the school’s basement, using the generator installed there for electricity. According to Leonid, the soldiers’ use of the school as a barracks, latrine and place to sleep led to the complete dilapidation of the building.
Before the escalation of the conflict, the school was well-equipped with interactive whiteboards and modern computers. However, most of the school’s equipment were stolen or destroyed. Interactive whiteboards were shot through, computers were taken away and projectors were removed from the ceiling. The school’s library was also destroyed.
Leonid explains: “Our library was full of literature … When we first regained access to the school, we saw a mountain of books in the middle of the yard. All of them were wet from rain and snow and unusable.”
“The damage was extensive, with furniture and classrooms ruined, all of the windows smashed, and doors knifed,” he adds. “The wooden building that had previously housed the kindergarten, canteen, museum, music class and art class was completely burnt down.”
Overcoming challenges to restore Andriivka's school
On 30 March 2022, when the village returned under Ukrainian government control, attempts to resume in-person education began. At first, it was impossible to conduct lessons in the school itself due to the lack of windows, doors and heating. Within a few weeks, communications were restored and the school switched to online learning. However, heavy damage to the village infrastructure, including the destruction of cell towers, made this extremely difficult.
The local education department prioritised rebuilding schools and kindergartens. “Education is critical for the overall recovery of the community,” says Iryna Voloshenko, head of the community’s education department. “As schools and kindergartens are the centres of village life, they directly affect the psychological wellbeing of children and adults, creating social stability.”
The local community, including teachers and the parents of students, worked together to replace the windows and doors and rebuild the boiler room. This was a priority, to ensure that the school would be functional when the cold weather set in. Alongside other international humanitarian organisations, NRC helped restore various parts of the school, including repairing the corridors, which were damaged by debris, and replacing internal doors, latrines and an entrance, which was damaged by a blast nearby.
It took six months to completely repair the heating system and replace the windows and doors, at which point full-time education resumed for junior high school students.
Iryna emphasises that the most crucial thing when rebuilding schools is to create safe conditions for children, which means constructing new bomb shelters. Until 2022, there was no need for shelters in these communities. “Today, it would be impossible to study without a shelter nearby, because of the constant threat of rocket attacks,” she adds. “In many villages, no existing premises could be easily converted, so new shelters had to be built from scratch. This required significant financial resources and assistance from the government and international organisations.”
Iryna mobilised the efforts of many international organisations, the Ukrainian government, parents and community members to rebuild 17 damaged schools in their community. In just three months over the summer of 2022, she managed to restore 12 schools. The rest were rebuilt over the subsequent three months. As of early 2024, only one school continues to operate exclusively online due to a lack of shelters in the village. All other schools have already been equipped with modern, accessible shelters, and children are able to study in person.
“Education is the most important thing and the foundation of our future. We cannot leave these children behind now… And each signed memorandum or cooperation agreement is a small victory for me and the community,” explains Iryna.
The rebuilding of the school and kindergarten in Andriivka exemplifies how joint efforts by the community, the state and international organisations can restore everyday life, even in the most challenging conditions.
Building emotional resilience and restoring normalcy
The war has left a deep imprint, not only on the school’s material infrastructure but also on the emotional wellbeing of the students. Children have been forced to adapt to a new reality, in which war is part of their daily lives.
“Children are used to war. They know what to do during air raids, where to go for shelter, and what to take. War has become their new normal, and it scares them. They should not see all these horrors,” says Iryna.
Teachers and school administrators are now focused on children’s social and emotional adaptation. They aim to support students emotionally, not only in the learning process, but also by helping them be seen and heard. In cases where students are struggling or not doing their homework, teachers try not to put pressure on them, realising that their emotional wellbeing can be complex.
The lack of school psychologists has been a significant problem. Many schools are unable to provide psychological assistance to children who have experienced stressful situations. It’s difficult for teachers to provide emotional support to children without the necessary skills and training.
NRC’s Better Learning Programme (BLP) has become an essential tool for restoring Ukrainian students’ emotional and psychological wellbeing. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science has approved the introduction of BLP practices for use in the educational process. This programme aims to support children and young people's recovery from traumatic events by improving conditions for learning.
As part of the BLP, specially trained staff conduct two-day training sessions for teachers. During the training, participants learn and practice strategies so that they can better respond to the psychosocial needs of their students, support their recovery in the learning environment, and improve their wellbeing by replicating BLP activities in their classroom.
BLP approaches are based on five fundamental principles essential for psychological recovery: creating a sense of safety, providing calm, increasing self-efficacy, maintaining connections with significant others and restoring hope. When these five principles are integrated into school routines and promoted by teachers on a daily basis, the school becomes an effective place to facilitate recovery.
Introducing BLP at Andriivka School was essential to restoring normalcy in the community. Its success demonstrates how targeted support and psychological assistance can help rehabilitate children who have experienced hardship and give them the strength to continue their development and education.
A new chapter: reviving education at Andriivka School
Despite the extensive damage to the school and considerable emotional pressure, the students and teachers kept faith that they would return to everyday life. This small village has become an example for hundreds of communities across Ukraine, showing that no matter how difficult the path is, there is always an opportunity to rebuild lives and regain hope.
In Ukraine, NRC is helping to rebuild schools and improve education through its BLP approach, with financial support from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO).
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