PRESS RELEASE : Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited a school in Irpin that was restored after hostilities and observed the organization of the educational process under martial law

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 1 September 2022.

On the occasion of the Knowledge Day, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited A. S. Makarenko specialized secondary school of the I-III degrees of the artistic profile № 1 of Irpin.

The premises of the institution were damaged as a result of the Russian invasion in March of this year and were restored before the beginning of the new school year. From September 1, 1,300 pupils will get knowledge here.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the thematic lesson “We are Ukrainians: honor and glory to the indomitable!” and talked with young schoolchildren. The President and the first-graders greeted each other with the words “Glory to Ukraine!”. The Head of State asked the children what kind of mood they had when they went to school for the first time.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated first graders and their teachers on the Knowledge Day. “School is a second home. It is very nice to see so many bright children. You are charging us all today. Enjoy studying, good luck and all the best,” said the President.

He also examined the school’s basement set up to shelter pupils during air raids.

According to Head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Oleksiy Kuleba, after the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, 215 educational institutions were damaged in the Kyiv region, 12 were completely destroyed.

Starting from September 1, 412 kindergartens and 548 schools will function in the region in full-time and mixed formats. 82% of schools have shelters.

Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet noted that over the time of Russia’s war against our country, about 270 educational institutions in Ukraine were completely destroyed and more than 2,100 were damaged.

Starting from the new school year, 11,343 kindergartens will function in the country, of which 5,208 will function full-time and 1,067 will function in a mixed format. The educational process started in 12,906 schools, of which 3,539 will conduct classes offline, 3,870 – in a mixed format.

At the end of the meeting, the Head of State, together with first-grade pupils, took part in the ceremony of cancellation of the “Patron the Dog” charitable postage stamps. The ceremony was joined by the famous bomb-sniffing dog himself.

Director General of Ukrposhta Ihor Smilyanskyi noted that since the first months of the war, there have been many requests for the issue of special stamps, in particular, children asked for stamps with Patron.

According to Ihor Smilyanskyi, part of the funds from the sale of stamps will be directed through the UNITED24 platform to purchase a remote-controlled mechanized demining machine, and the rest will be given to animal shelters.