Change or die: What has been happening to school education and why it is dangerous — opinion

We can lament the overall decline in academic performance and the worsening results of the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) as much as we like. All of this is a consequence, and, of course, these consequences need to be acknowledged. But first and foremost, we need to acknowledge something else: the education system lacks flexibility and adaptability. Under the pressure of a crisis, it risks breaking down completely.

What we are seeing in this situation is reactive action instead of proactive action: the system responds (and mostly sluggishly) to events, but is unable to anticipate scenarios and develop effective models. Let alone change them quickly when necessary.

Schrödinger’s education: it exists and doesn’t exist at the same time

The situation in Kyiv is a vivid example. The capital’s schools entered the 2026-2027 academic year to the accompaniment of relentless attacks. While strikes used to occur mostly at night, since the end of summer they have become effectively round-the-clock, creating an enormous challenge for every educational institution without exception.

Organizing full-fledged offline education in a safe educational environment for all students simultaneously is impossible for many reasons. First, children somehow have to make their way to school during the short intervals between air-raid alerts. Second, school shelters need to be properly equipped and zoned so that classes are not crammed on top of one another, shouting over each other in an attempt to hear the teacher’s voice, while struggling to breathe because there is no proper air-conditioning system. Under such conditions, both teaching and learning become extraordinarily difficult.

It seemed that a structured and uninterrupted online learning system could have been the logical solution – one the education system should have prepared for comprehensively and well in advance. But this is where the devil is in the details. The education system was simply not ready. 

Yes, formally, online education does exist. It is combined with in-person schooling under what is known as a rotational system. For example, one week in the classroom, the next week remotely. But when an air-raid alert sounds, a teacher is required to interrupt an online lesson with the words: “We are heading to the shelter.” And, legally speaking, everyone is supposed to do exactly that. In reality, however, children remain under Shahed drone and missile attacks in their apartments or houses, often right next to windows.

The school removes itself from responsibility for the student’s safety, which is entirely understandable from a legal perspective. At the same time, it places responsibility on the student for independently learning the material from a lesson that never actually took place. Given the frequency of air-raid alerts, it is a good day if one can manage to hold an hour and a half or two hours of classes. Often, even that is a luxury.

Everyone becomes a hostage to the circumstances. First, the children, who miss out on learning and remain in danger. Second, teachers, who could avoid going to school in person, take a laptop, and choose a convenient and safe place with a stable internet connection from which to teach their lessons, but unfortunately do not have that freedom. And finally, parents, who want both education and safety for their children. But even if parents have the opportunity to take their child outside the city, they do not know how to do it because schools do not offer a permanent online learning option. 

How we came to rely on bomb shelters and distance learning

And here I feel like saying what an average mom would say: “I told you so!” Because for years I have been talking – no, shouting – about the urgent need to develop online education in a safe environment, trying to get through to both the Ukrainian expert community and decision-makers on international platforms.

Let’s start with the fact that it was my own children who once pushed me toward creating a school with alternative learning models. The lyceum they attended was not enough for them – and, consequently, not enough for us as their parents. Mentally and intellectually, they were already far beyond the boundaries of conventional schooling. That is how the idea of the “Green School” in the Carpathians was born, and we brought it to life as a camp together with Kyiv Natural-Scientific Lyceum No. 145 and artists.

By the way, I had to organize an educational space in a bomb shelter long before it became mainstream. Our NGO, the Open Policy Foundation, did not have its own premises in Kyiv for a long time. Eventually, when the administration gave us a space, we discovered that it was actually a shelter – it even had the appropriate sign on it. I walked inside and was horrified: rats everywhere, everything neglected and run-down, half in ruins...

But I accepted the challenge and decided that perhaps this was fate, and that I was supposed to create an educational space similar to one I had seen in Israel, where I studied and explored the concept of specialized education for gifted children. There, the architectural environment is fully adapted to the way the educational process is organized and to safety requirements. Eventually, we succeeded – the bomb shelter became an educational Green STREAM hub.

And, finally, the project “Accessible Education for Children from Temporarily Occupied Territories,” which my team and I took on during the war, played a huge role in shaping my vision of education. It became the focus of my work as an education expert and civil society activist. Together with my team, we created a unique online learning system that helped thousands of children from temporarily occupied territories obtain a Ukrainian education. It also became virtually the only tool providing access to education for children from frontline communities. Our education hotline received 72,000 calls.

We ran large-scale national information campaigns and organized training for teachers from educational institutions in frontline areas. I worked with parliamentary working groups, advocating for the needs of education during wartime, including the need for full-fledged distance learning.

Did I have doubts? Did I encounter obstacles? Did I face resistance and distrust? Absolutely! But literally one day – February 24, 2022 – showed me that although I had often been swimming against the current, I had been heading in the right direction.

As of February 23, 2022, our school had seven students. The founders of private schools know what it means to build a private school around such a small number of children without a donor, an investor, or a state subsidy. But we stubbornly kept building our lyceum... For example, from the very beginning, I did not hesitate to invest resources in very expensive licenses for Google platforms, which could accommodate children from anywhere in the world, with no limit on the number of users.

So, on February 24, I wrote to teachers from Donetsk and Luhansk regions whom we had previously trained and with whom we had held conferences and seminars on distance learning as part of the “Accessible Education for Children from Temporarily Occupied Territories” project. I told them that they and their students could join our learning platform completely free of charge. That very evening, 700 (!) children were studying on the platform. Very quickly, the number of students reached 7,000. Everyone was learning in real time.

That is how, practically overnight, a small startup became an online education hub for thousands of children scattered across different regions and countries. To be honest, I still don’t understand how we managed to do it all. But we even managed to issue state-recognized secondary education certificates to children from Mariupol, Rubizhne, Siverskodonetsk, and other towns and cities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

I don’t want to watch the education ‘Titanic’ sink

Looking back now, I understand that everything worked because we had an enormous desire and motivation to act. We were not afraid to change. Our philosophy is still built around three basic principles: flexibility, security, humanity.

Today, the Churyumov Scientific Lyceum has an excellent academic-level teaching staff. We combine online and offline learning, hold additional in-person classes in university laboratories, and offer unique special courses in physics, astronomy, other sciences, and the arts. We also organize regular in-person sessions with lessons, experiments, and opportunities for rest and recovery at our “Green School” boarding campus in the Carpathians, as well as urban camps with scientists and artists.

Our children start learning physics in first grade! And nobody is afraid of it. For example, one second-grade student created comic-book notes from her physics lessons. We supported her idea, and now we want to publish them as a physics reference guide for other children to use.

Older students are happy to become mentors and tutors for younger ones, helping them with their homework. We mix their knowledge – I believe these horizontal connections are valuable for everyone: they provide enormous experience and motivation for the children.

We teach children to love mathematics, astronomy, robotics, natural sciences, and art. But most importantly, we teach them to accept, feel, and appreciate what surrounds them: nature, people, the universe. Because, in my view, the primary mission of a school is to teach us how to be human and how to love. This is especially important in times of uncertainty and hardship.

In today’s circumstances, the lyceum provides points of stability, consistency, and confidence. It has continuity and a strong sense of tradition. At the same time, we are always ready for change. If reality and circumstances demand it, we are ready to replace our educational model with a new one within a year.

If necessary, we will change even ten times over, because without the flexibility demanded by war and the destruction of society’s supporting structures – not only in Ukraine but around the world – education will die. And we cannot allow that to happen because we bear responsibility for children as the carriers of Ukraine’s vision of the future.

I very much want this approach to be embraced and implemented as an effective model of online education in public schools and local communities. Despite the problems and obstacles. As quickly as possible.

Right now, public education resembles the “Titanic,” slowly sinking, while the lifeboats in the form of innovative schools and individual proactive educators are rowing away as fast as they can, riding the waves. But I do not want to watch the “Titanic” of public education sink, because I am convinced that education is what ensures the resilience of the state.

I very much want all of us to make it through and win together. And if that is in our common interest, I am ready to share my expertise, vision, experience, and tools.

This is an opinion column. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial team.