You're reading: Less than half of schools opened in Donbas on Sept. 1

On Sept. 1, 797 schools were open, and 900 schools closed in Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts, Deputy Education and Science Minister Pavlo Poliansky said.

“As of 1100, the education process has started in a total of 250
schools in Luhansk Oblast. Today, 46,300 pupils have gone to school
there, 4,900 of them are first-graders,” Poliansky said at a briefing in
Kyiv on Sept. 1.

In addition, in Donetsk region, the education process started in 547
schools with 155,000 pupils attending schools and 17,000 of them being
first-graders.

The academic year is scheduled to start on Oct. 1 in populated
areas, where military actions are ongoing. According to Poliansky, about
900 schools aren’t working in the anti-terrorist operation zone.

In addition, he reminded that leaders of the so-called Donetsk and
Luhansk republics had claimed that the academic year had started in
schools controlled by the militants as well.

“No education process can be held in areas that aren’t controlled by Ukraine and where military actions are conducted,” he said.

In addition, minister said that Education Ministry had issued an
explanatory statement for teachers. According to it, there’s no talking
of coming to work, conducting classes and, moreover, getting paid for
participation in such an activity, as it also leads to serious legal
consequences.