Walls and roofs in ruins. Broken roads. This landscape has become typical for the towns and villages of Donbass. However, only a year and a half ago Luhansk and Donetsk regions were considered as the most industrially developed and populous part of the country. The war has influenced all spheres of life, including education. On the first of September, 2015 twelve schools of controlled by Ukraine parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions have not opened their doors. Hundreds of other schools in the region started their work.

However, it does not mean that they are really ready for the academic school year. That is how the building of the school #2 of Stanichno-Luhansk region looks now. After the bombings of 2014, only broken walls of the school remain.

“In fact, everything is destroyed. Some flowers are left. On the 1st of September the collective came here to put the flowers. This was teacher’s office, the vice-principal’s office… Classes were on the right side there… There is a classroom for studying. Also classes were on this side”, tells The Educational Department’s Chief Natalya Yaroshenko.

Before the war, 425 children have been studying in the school #2. Those, who haven’t moved are studying in the building of a kindergarden and in the editorial office of the former newspaper.

“We are fully studying. There is a studying process. We have a desk. The only thing is that there is not enough of materials. Chalk is a problem”, tells Lydmula Zhyrokina, The Principal of the School #2 on Ukrainian language.

These premises are poorly adapted for studying. But the staff of the school does everything to not stop education process.

“There are some school books. Some we look for and some we ask for. Somehow we survive. That is why I think that everything will be fine with us. Just don’t shoot. Our teachers are saying “Just don’t shoot and we will do everything”, continues The Principal.

The most common damages in schools are knocked out windows, cracks in the walls and broken roofs.

“We did not have windows in the school. Last winter our class sat on the first floor. There was only oilcloth on the windows. Yes, it was cold all winter”, tells Alla, scholar of the 11th form.

And that is how the school in the town of Mykolaivka, Donetsk region looked after the warfare of July, 2014. For approximately a month children were studying in ruins and in cold. The situation has been fixed by the local thermoelectric power station and volunteers. The administration of the station sponsored the rebuilding of the roof and some of the windows. The volunteers brought donated construction materials. Together with that they arranged series of lessons to help children relieve stress.

The day used to start from how it was, where were they, how their moms were crying, how the uncle was covered with blood, how the ambulance was there. We have already calmed them down that it will not happen again. That everything is alright, that you are going to school. The school is rebuilt. Of course it means a lot, because children have seen it. They saw the destroyed school and they see how it looks now”, tells Tetyana Schetenko, teacher of elementary grades of the School #3 city of Mykolaivka.

It cost 35 000 dollars to provide just one school in Mykolaivka with the new windows, doors, chairs and the floor. According to different statistics, around 100 schools of Luhansk and Donetsk region need to be repaired. The conditions of the schools in the region define its future, because it is not just the places for receiving secondary education. Often schools are the only places for public gatherings. Here the communities can become a ground for new civil society of Ukraine.