Children in Ukraine face a fifth year of assault on their right to learn

This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Global Deputy Spokesperson, Ricardo Pires - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

SUMY, 15 September 2026 - "Nearly five years into the war in Ukraine, children's right to education remains under attack, with consequences that will define an entire generation.

"Just 15 days into the new school year there have been over 1,000 air raid alerts across the country. This is the highest number for this period in the last five years and nearly double the same period last year.

"It amounts to over 100 alerts every single day and at least four every hour. Sumy, where I am speaking to you from today, has been among the three regions hit hardest this year, together with Mykolaiv and Odesa. Nobody hears them louder and deeper than children.

"I am now inside one of 22 underground shelters turned into schools that UNICEF has helped set up for children living near the frontlines. This one can host up to 300 children. Here in Sumy, essentially one in every two education facilities have been damaged or destroyed by the conflict. It is heartbreaking to see what should be a place of learning and protection turned into rubble.

"Across the country, the picture is just as stark. According to government estimates between January and August this year, hundreds more educational institutions have been damaged, taking the overall toll in Ukraine to over 4200 since the start of the war. Children whose hope of simply going to school continues to be disrupted by conflict causing a seemingly never-ending cycle of trauma.

"The cost to children is measured beyond broken walls, psychological scars and loud sirens.

"Results from the latest OECD PISA, released last week, show us that a significant proportion of 15-year-olds in Ukraine who undertook the test - many of whom have spent the last five years of their schooling in war zones - have not yet reached a level of competency in the subject matters that would allow them to keep building on their education. This narrows their options for further study, skilled work, and full participation in society as adults down the line.

"Around one third, did not reach that basic level of achievement in science, and about half did not reach it in maths or reading. When comparing this achievement to the overall OECD average, it is equivalent to a gap of 2 years of study for reading and 1.5 years of study for math and science.

"Similarly, 56 per cent missed the baseline in at least one of the tested subjects: maths, reading and science; and nearly three in ten (or 29 per cent) failed to reach the baseline level in any of the three tested subjects.

"According to school principals, 61 per cent of Ukrainian students attend schools affected by shortages of learning materials and equipment, and 54 per cent attended schools lacking enough digital resources. Because of security reasons, this data is only coming from 17 regions in Ukraine, so we can assume that schools closer to the frontlines are even less resourced.

"Despite the war, Ukraine has demonstrated incredible resilience in sustaining the education system as verified by the stability of results between 2022 and 2025. However, as we continue to warn, children in Ukraine need peace to be able to learn properly.

"After almost five years of war, school is one of the few places where a child can find some sense of normality - friends, teachers, routine, a place to feel safe. That matters, because this war is taking an enormous psychological toll on them.

"Nine-year-old Sabrina told me yesterday how much she missed being able to be with her classmates, despite the dangers above the ground. 'It is so nice to be together again and not learn online. I just miss our regular walks and playtime outside but now it's too dangerous, so we stay inside all day," she explained still sharing it as positive news.

"Children like Sarbina have spent years waking to explosions, running to shelters, being displaced from their homes, separated from friends, wondering when the next attack will come. We see children struggling to sleep, to concentrate, to regulate their emotions. A child cannot simply leave that fear at the classroom door.

"An air-raid siren means a maths lesson stops halfway through. Children leave their desks for shelter. They wait for the all-clear. They return. They try to concentrate again and then the siren sounds. It's worth repeating: Children and parents do everything to study. But the impact of this war is clear and visceral.

"Amid it all - and as a testament to parents, the Government and humanitarian partners - nearly 4.2 million children returned to learning this September, including over 712,000 preschoolers. More than 366,000 teachers also returned to their classrooms.

"A significant number of children continue to depend on blended and fully online approaches, with a context in flux as the areas and number of attacks shift and escalate. Nearly half of preschool-aged children are missing out on regular early childhood education and care, losing opportunities to develop foundational skills for lifelong learning.

"And now another threat is approaching. Winter. Attacks on infrastructure will cause electricity and heating disruption. Last year nearly two million children suffered in extreme winter conditions after being left without heat, electricity and water. Power cuts disrupted online lessons too, with the frontline areas like Sumy being hardest hit.

"UNICEF's 2026-2027 winter response is aiming to reach 3 million people, including 540,000 children. This will include repairing heating systems and providing energy back-up to schools. It will ensure that 375,000 students can keep learning, in-person, through the winter. With our partners, we are also rehabilitating school shelters, repairing education facilities damaged by attacks, supporting catch-up learning, and providing mental health and psychosocial support.

"We are doing everything we can to keep children learning, but no amount of support can shield their education from the consequences of continued attacks."

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Notes to editors:

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The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses the knowledge, skills and attitudes of 15-year-old students. Ukraine participated for the first time in PISA in 2018. For the 2025 PISA there were 17 PISA participating jurisdictions in Ukraine, the following ten jurisdictions were not covered: Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Donetsk Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, Luhansk Oblast, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Kherson Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Sumy Oblast, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

Follow this link for information on the PISA results for Ukraine.

• Ukraine,
• Children and Armed Conflict

UNICEF is the world's leading humanitarian organization focused on children. We work in the most challenging areas to provide protection, healthcare and immunizations, education, safe water and sanitation and nutrition. As part of the United Nations, our unrivaled reach spans more than 190 countries and territories, ensuring we are on the ground to help the most disadvantaged children. While part of the UN system, UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to finance our life-saving work. Please visit unicef.ca and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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