Underground schools of a mining town. How Ukrainian teachers work 60 kilometers from the front

The number of teachers in Ukraine is decreasing - 108,000 teachers, i.e., one third, will be short of teachers by 2030. Teachers of foreign languages and natural sciences are most in short supply, and the shortage is acutely felt in frontline communities. Schools with a shortage of teachers are expected to show the worst level of pupils' preparation, which is additionally superimposed on the stress due to the war, domestic difficulties long online format. Overall, the full-scale Russian invasion has resulted in educational losses equivalent to two years of schooling.

Socportal spoke to Snizhana Oleksun, an English and social studies teacher from Kryvyi Rih, the homecity of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and a major industrial center in the Dnipropetrovsk region, whose borders the Russian invaders are now trying to reach. She spoke about underground schools, the prospects for young people in the mining town, and the lives of the teachers themselves in the war.

Since teachers' salaries are low, about 15,000 hryvnias (300 euros) on average, and there is a shortage of teachers, she simultaneously works at school, college, and as an entrepreneur, tutoring English.

My working day lasts from eight in the morning, and usually until eight in the evening, sometimes until nine. Although that's me getting a bit overexcited. It's only lessons until eight. And plus, you come home, you have to fill out a lot of different documentation. This and methodological complexes, and electronic cabinets, in which it is obligatory to state information, and check electronic notebooks. The workload is enormous. Plus, parents call you all the time, you are constantly in touch. It's such a time now that you constantly need to know about each and every one of your children. Plus sleepless nights with sirens and gunfire. And every teacher, you understand, has their own problems now, says Snizhana.

Her husband and son are serving in the AFU, and among the graduates there are young guys who volunteered for the army.

It's really hard for me to talk about this because these are my best students. This is the 2019 graduating class. Danya Kozlov was in a reconnaissance company and died. He was the pride of our group, she says.

When asked what keeps her going and why she continues to work in education, Snizhana says she comes from a dynasty of teachers and has never thought of another profession.

I'm just crazy about it. I really love it and clearly it's my thing, the feeling of my soul. You realise that you have to work at it. And kept, apparently, by the burning eyes of children who will get new knowledge from you, notes Snizhana.

How “underground” education works

By the end of 2025, Ukraine plans to build 180 underground schools. Three of them are being built in Kryvyi Rih. However, already now in the school where Snizhana works, the entire educational process has been moved “underground”.

At school, we work in the shelter all the time. My lessons start exactly in the shelter, and we don't run anywhere (in case of an air raid, teachers are obliged to take the children to the shelter - ed.). And this is convenient on the one hand, but on the other hand it is inconvenient in that there are no doors between classes, and you constantly hear another teacher, you hear other children, you are constantly in the noise. It scatters the children, you have to keep their attention during the whole lesson and think of different forms and methods to keep them interested and not distracted. We got new furniture this year, new interactive whiteboards. But it is still underground. Children get sick very often, because these conditions are not suitable for everyone. They don't really suit anyone. No matter how super ventilation is, you come in the morning and you still can't breathe, says Snizhana.

At the college, on the other hand, children study in regular classes and partly online. In addition, the institution has many buildings, between which students must constantly move around the city. Controlling that everyone gets to the shelter at the time of the alarm is very hard. Because of the security issues, and for the guys also because they can't leave the country once they turn 18, a lot of kids leave.

This year after the last arrival at the playground in Yubileynoye (then 18 people, including 9 children, were killed because of Russian shelling - ed.) a lot left the school. Parents take their children away because they are worried. Safety is the first priority, education is secondary. They leave almost every day. Especially children studying in college after the first year are taken away. There's a lot of them. When they turn 16, they even leave on their own. And they start to adapt to life themselves, to work. Often continue their college education online. It is still possible how it will be now with the new laws - it is not known, says Snizhana.

In the summer of this year, there was a discussion about the reduction of online education, as it negatively affects the quality. However, in the end, the MES allowed each educational institution to decide on the form of education independently.

In order to go completely offline, it should be complete security. And there isn't. And there are constant fly-ins. Last night hit the children's sports school, it was completely destroyed, says Snizhana.

Many teachers are also leaving because of the combination of risks and low salaries, she said.

Especially those who teach English. Even if they graduate from university, they don't want to go to school for those pennies. And they open their own private institutions, she notes.

At the same time, there are a lot of internally displaced people here. The proximity to the east and the similar lifestyle of a large industrial city have made Kryvyi Rih one of the important center for displaced people.

I have such boys in my college who even left when the war in Donbass started in 2014. They live in a modular town located almost outside the city. And there is very bad transport going there. But that doesn't prevent them from studying well, says the teacher.

Also in war conditions, schools, and colleges are introducing special safety courses.

There is occupational safety, where we constantly talk to the children about the danger of mines. We all took the relevant trainings when the war started and got certificates. We also have to hold class hours related to the information danger on the Internet, that all information should be perceived critically, do not give in to provocations, says Snizhana.

Ukraine remains one of the most substitutable countries in the world. During three years of Russian invasion due to explosive objects in Ukraine 336 people died, among them 18 — children, another 825 people were injured. Also, over the past year, cases of Russian special services recruiting teenagers and forcing them to set fire to military vehicles or bring explosives to military facilities have become more frequent. Several minors have been killed or seriously injured in these cases. At the same time, a few months ago, the Security Service of Ukraine said that two boys from Kryvyi Rih, aged 14 and 17, refused to work for the Russian secret services and informed law enforcers about the recruitment attempts. They received awards for this.

Why labour shortages do not contribute to wage increases

In recent years, especially in the context of the war, there has been an ongoing discussion that the country is catastrophically short of members of the labour professions. Those who could work in complex industries, including military assignments. After the rapid deindustrialisation of the 1990s, the country's economy was reoriented towards the service sector, and the prestige of working professions and, consequently, vocational education has fallen significantly. However, Kryvyi Rih remains a city of metallurgists with an appropriate educational infrastructure.

We have an industrial city, mines, quarries, factories. Therefore, the college focuses on these professions that will be in demand in our city. Welders, electricians, computer specialists, information and software engineers, says Snizhana.

According to her, here college students are not perceived as outsiders and later still get higher education, already clearly oriented to a certain specialty and experience. Now they are getting this experience earlier than usual, because the metallurgical giants of Kryvyi Rih are short of workers. At the beginning of the invasion, when the occupiers cut the logistical routes to the Sea of Azov, many enterprises stopped and put workers on idle time. Most of them went into the service. But now new routes have been found for iron ore and other products. That is why college students are actively involved.

At the ArcelorMittal plant (former Krivorozhstal, now part of the largest steel company in the world - ed.), children switched to an individual form of education and went to work even from the second year of study. So, you see, there is such a shortage of labour, says Snizhana.

And at the same time, according to her, there is a paradox when young specialists are offered only the minimum salary, which they do not accept. Therefore, some graduates who could gain experience, higher qualifications and, in the long run, higher salaries, are lost.

I had a girl among my graduating class last year who has a whole dynasty of electricians. She went to the factory, but the salary there is 7 thousand UAH (150 euros). This is too little for young people who want to live separately from their parents and rent accommodation. Therefore, of course, they go to work as baristas, in grocery shops, because there salaries are twice as much. Also, a lot of people go to Kiev to earn money, they do not get an official job, but work unofficially on construction sites, says the teacher.

When asked about the role of college graduates in the reconstruction of the country, Snizhana says that it is too early to talk about it.

Now, first of all, everyone is thinking about their own safety. Children are being taken away en masse. But will those who remain be emotionally, physically, and mentally capable? Recovery is a secondary issue for now, she says.

Almost everyone among college and high school students and teachers has family members in the army. But last year, there were those who went to college to dodge the draft.

How can I relate to that? That's a provocative question. I have two fighting..., Snizhana sighs.

At the end of July, during the anti-corruption protests, she joined the action in Kryvyi Rih, holding a placard with the inscription: “For decent living conditions!”

Currently, the authorities recognise the problem with the shortage of teachers, primarily due to low salaries. According to the laws “On Education” and “On Full General Secondary Education”, the minimum salary of a teacher in Ukraine should be at least three minimum wages. As of 2025, this is 24,000 UAH per month.

However, in practice, this norm is postponed every year when the state budget is adopted. Education Minister Oksen Lesnoy stated that in 2026, the “Teacher's additional payment” is planned to be increased by 1,000 UAH from January and by another 2,000 UAH from September. However, this requires funding of 40bn hryvnias, which remains questionable in the context of a limited budget.