Coworking spaces in shelters and shorter lessons: schools prepare for prolonged blackouts

Five response levels have been provided for outages

Цей матеріал також доступний:

29 Sep 2026

0 703

Підготовка шкіл до навчання в укриттях під час тривалих відключень світла

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has prepared recommendations for schools on operating during the 2026/2027 autumn–winter period in the event of possible power, heating, and water supply disruptions. Schools are advised to organize instruction so that students can continue classes during prolonged air raid alerts and power outages.

It is proposed to set up safe coworking spaces and digital education centers in shelters with the ability to connect to online lessons. While children are in the shelter, they should be accompanied by teachers or psychologists.

Schools will be able to change the learning format depending on the security situation and shelter capacity. Lesson lengths are recommended to be reduced to 30 or 40 minutes, and sessions in protective spaces, if necessary, to be held in two shifts.

Priority access to in-person learning in shelters is recommended to be given to students in grades 1–4. If places remain available, other grades may be included, in particular grades 5, 9 and 10.

Another proposed format is blended learning. Students can study remotely in their classes and, after an air raid alert is announced, move to shelters and continue their lessons there.

The Ministry of Education and Science has defined five response levels depending on the duration of a power outage:

if there is no power for up to 2 hours, the school can continue to operate with local restrictions;
for outages lasting from 2 to 6 hours, it is recommended to shorten lessons and maintain the operation of critically important systems;
if there is no electricity for from 6 to 24 hours, in-person classes are advised to remain only in energy-independent institutions, and other schools should switch to remote or asynchronous formats;
for outages lasting from 24 to 72 hours, education can be organized in educational hubs and energy-resilient institutions;
if a blackout lasts more than 72 hours, communities are advised to create a temporary network of educational hubs and hold classes in institutions that remain able to operate.

Before the autumn–winter period, schools must check the readiness of shelters, ensure access to digital learning platforms, and prepare printed materials in case of electricity or internet outages. Possible solutions mentioned also include a six-day school week and operating in two shifts.

Institutions are advised to arrange for backup power, stocks of drinking and technical water, and long-shelf-life food. Separately, the readiness of resilience points should be checked.

Each educational institution must adapt the recommendations of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to its own conditions, available resources, and the security situation.

Earlier we wrote:

Тег