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​​Currently, 3,790 internally displaced persons live in temporary schools in Lviv. This is quite a small number because previously, the figure could reach seven thousand. This was announced by Viktoria Khrystenko, who chairs the commission of education and science of the Lviv City Council.

She noted that some of these people are looking for housing and jobs, some are returning home, but there are still those who have been living temporarily in schools from the first day of the war until this day, says Victoria Khrystenko.

«Some people are returning to their homes in the liberated areas, and some are starting to integrate here, looking for housing. Those who do not have such an opportunity continue to live,» – she said.

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It should also be noted that according to Viktoria Khrystenko, there is a total problem with shelters in Lviv, and they need to be completed under the playgrounds, the network of which is well developed in Lviv. Beneath them, ditches should be dug, two exits created, and all citizens should be directed there. At the same time, schools and kindergartens should have shelters only for children.

According to the Department of Education of the Lviv Regional State Administration, the heads of educational institutions have already received instructions to arrange shelters in accordance with sanitary norms, develop a plan for resettlement of internally displaced persons from educational buildings and prepare schools for the beginning of the school year.

«It is necessary to do everything possible so that from September 1, studying took place in the usual way and was safe for participants in the educational process. Given the dangerous situation in the country, the opening of schools is possible only if there are shelters in case of shelling,» – said the head of the department, Oleh Paska.

We will add that «Tvoe Misto» media hub organized a public discussion with the participation of officials, teachers and parents on the topic «What will be the education in schools in Lviv during the war.» The participants discussed how and when they plan to establish the educational process in Lviv, whether it will be possible to vacate schools to return children to offline education, and whether the city is ready to create safe living conditions for children and teachers.

Translated by Vitalii Holich

Follow us on and Instagram. Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.