Graduation in Ukrainian Schools - Realities of 2025
The beginning of summer is one of welcome heat. It is filled not only with bright sun, but also with equally bright events. In Ukraine in June, just like here in Canada, school graduates receive their certificates and celebrate school graduation. I can remember my school graduation evening and my classmates as if it was yesterday. We were beautiful, full of hopes and dreams and could not, even in our worst nightmare, imagine that a full-scale war would ever begin in our country.
We studied in an ordinary secondary school and we had wonderful teachers. Each of them left a special impression in our memories with their innovative styles in teaching us. In order to arouse children’s interest in his subject, our history teacher often came to class dressed in some historical clothing that he may have rented from a specialized store. It proved to be unusual, interesting and very creative. The literature teacher talked so fascinatingly about the works of the classics that there was always complete silence in her lesson. After graduation our whole class often met in some cozy restaurant, told each other about our journeys and fondly remembered our school and teachers. I really hope that we will all definitely meet again and that everything will be fine for everyone.
The war in Ukraine has disrupted the rhythm of everyday life for Ukrainians and has also changed the education system. Many schools have been forced to switch to distance learning, while other schools have stepped up security measures so that in the event of an air raid, children could urgently leave their classrooms and hide in specially equipped bomb shelters. Innovative additional classes have also been introduced for graduates. At the end of the school year, many educational institutions conduct summer internships in life safety, training in tactical medicine, cyber security, and other helpful adaptations. Today’s challenges dictate their own conditions.
The month of June should have been full of joyful events, such as graduations and graduation parties. Instead, many cities in Ukraine were subject to missile attacks, which resulted in a large number of casualties. On June 17, the city of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, was shelled by drones and missiles. The air raid alarm lasted almost nine hours and as a result of the strike, people died and many more were injured. The entrance of a nine-story residential building completely collapsed. Horrible footage of this tragic event flew around all the news feeds and the next day a day of mourning was declared. Six days later, on the night of June 23, Kyiv was again hit by a missile and once again people died.