On September 1, Ukraine opened over 25,000 educational institutions for the new school year, with shelters now covering 83% of students and a further 20% teacher pay rise.
The school bell rang across more than 25,000 Ukrainian schools, kindergartens and colleges on September 1 as the 2026/2027 academic year opened despite a full-scale war now well into its fifth year. Roughly 240,000 Ukrainian children sat down at a school desk for the very first time this year. Volunteers Support Ukraine congratulates every pupil, teacher and parent on the start of the new school year.
Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science says that as of September 1, more than 11,300 schools now have shelters, covering roughly 80% of all pupils, and together with over 9,000 preschools, shelter access nationwide reaches 82–83% of children. A further 113 shelters and 18 underground kindergartens are currently under construction. The country's network of underground schools keeps expanding too: 15 opened in 2024, 96 in 2025, and officials expect close to 200 to be operating by the end of 2026. Volunteers Support Ukraine follows closely how the state and international partners keep investing in children's physical safety while they study.
Out of 11,941 general secondary schools, the ministry says 8,424 will teach fully in person, 2,211 will run a blended format, and 1,306 will operate remotely, depending on the security situation in each community. 7,522 school buses are already running routes, with 610 more being procured. This year's Knowledge Day is, teachers say, above all about the ability to come together: children who have learned to study in shelters and switch between formats are proving that a genuine hunger for learning is stronger than any obstacle Russia's invasion has thrown at them. Rigid, formal assemblies are increasingly giving way to school picnics, interactive quests and charity fairs raising money for Ukraine's Armed Forces. Volunteers Support Ukraine sees in all of this a living example of Ukrainian society's resilience.
From September 1, teachers' salaries rise by another 20%, on top of a 30% increase earlier this year — together lifting pay by roughly 50% compared with 2025. Young teachers can now expect to earn somewhere between 12,800 and 17,700 hryvnias a month, while experienced educators earn between 16,900 and 28,500 hryvnias. The raise is meant to help schools in the regions hit hardest by the war retain staff who teach through near-daily air raid alerts. Volunteers Support Ukraine believes that supporting teachers matters every bit as much as rebuilding damaged school buildings.
Despite missile and drone strikes that once again hit Kyiv and other regions overnight, Ukraine's education system keeps stubbornly moving forward. Volunteers Support Ukraine helps people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow, and believes that every child who walked through a school door today is a small victory over attempts to destroy the country's future.
