The most important thing is safety.With this priority, the Ukrainian educational community is preparing for the new school year."We know that we cannot deprive children of their right to education, but the most important thing is to ensure safety," said Minister of Education and Science Serhijus Škarletas at a press conference dedicated to the new academic year in mid-August.According to him, the form of the education process will depend on the security situation, and parents will have the deciding vote.According to S. Škarlet, out of approximately 12.8 thousand3 thousand Ukrainian schools.regular format lessons are planned, 5.7 thousandschools will work remotely, 4 thousand- mixed.In the event that education is not conducted online, but in schools, the responsibility for security rests with the administration of the educational institution."Proper security at school will be better than staying at home," censor.net quoted Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskis as saying. He was pleased that during the five weeks of inspection, the number of schools equipped for normal contact education increased fourfold.The worst situation is in Mykolaiv and Poltava regions, the best is in Lviv and Chernivtsi regions and Kyiv.D. Monastyrskis hoped that the situation would improve by the beginning of September, and the number of educational institutions ready to teach outside of the Internet would increase.If the dry statistics usually presented by government officials are of little interest to an ordinary person, things are different in wartime.Both the responsibilities of ministers and the obligations of officials acquire new meanings, and public institutions have vital additional functions.Ukrainian teachers and parents of students do not only care about the content of the educational process, textbooks and uniforms.Foreign journalists who visited the Odessa-based private school "Harmonie" saw images that would be least likely in peacetime, heard about problems that would not exist if it were not for the war.On the left flank of the building, men are loading sandbags and bringing building materials in carts.The works are watched by the watchful eyes of the school director, Tetjana Protsenko.Here is a hiding place, which should have been installed in all Ukrainian schools since the beginning of the war: with fire-fighting equipment, food and medicine supplies, Internet access, but without windows.In educational institutions that do not meet these requirements, classes will be held only remotely.T.Procenko says that she is installing the shelter with her own money, because the school's budget is empty: due to the war, many families could not pay the monthly contribution of 430 euros.However, not all schools have such a backup option.According to the data of the Minister of Education and Science, just over two weeks before the new academic year, hiding places were installed only in a part of the inspected educational institutions of various levels (41% out of 80%).Concerns about children and safetyDuring the six months of the war, a large part of the nearly 4.5 millionschool-aged Ukrainian children have moved abroad or to safer regions of the country.70 percentout of 420 Harmonie students between the ages of 6 and 17 took refuge abroad.Educators, who were already sorely lacking in the Odesa region before the war, also left."We will rebuild the country, as we have done many times in history.However, we are most worried about the fact that the families who fled with their children will not return," T. Procenko shared his fear with the journalists of the Austrian publication "Standard".There will be a shortage of teachers in the new school year as well.Especially in those schools where contact classes will be held."Distance classes started during the pandemic were useful to us during the war until a certain point, but we noticed that since then the students have great learning difficulties," said the educator.On the other hand, during the six months of the war in Ukraine, 286 educational institutions were destroyed, more than 2,300 of them were damaged by bombing and shelling.Therefore, the worry of parents that their children will not be safe at school is indeed understandable."I am most worried that I will send my son to school, and then there will be an explosion and I will not be able to pick him up," said Kateryna Koposova, who came to the meeting with the school administration.In March, she fled to Moldova with her eight-year-old son, but later returned to her native Odessa."I even want to come to school with my child.Just so I wouldn't be too far from him," the woman shared her anxiety and immediately admitted that she didn't want to separate her son from his peers.Artem Volkov, who is raising two daughters, made a decision: "There is no shelter in our apartment building.My children will be safer at school than at home." Deputy Prime Minister Denysas Šmyhalis also speaks about the fact that the number of parents who agree to contact learning is increasing.In public schools, the guidelines regarding the language of instruction are clear, but parents do not shy away from publicly questioning the Russian language."We are not a public school, so we can choose the language of instruction ourselves," explains T.Procenko.- Some parents expressed their wish that from now on the Ukrainian language would be taught at school.Others would like the Russian language to remain.I would like to have at least a few optional Russian language courses."The language issue is particularly sensitive in Odessa.During the Soviet era, the city was a part of the Russian national identity, an important part of the mythology of the classics of Russian literature.But later, the attitude of many residents changed.Especially in the last six months."I stopped watching the western news in Russian," explains K. Koposova, who represents Ukrainian Russian speakers.- However, I still keep in touch with my relatives in Russia.They say they know better what Russian soldiers are doing in Ukraine.... It is very difficult.I feel Ukrainian, but I want my son to be taught in his native language.""Festival of Lights" started in KaunasCommemoration of Holocaust victims at Fort IXLeague of Nations: Lithuania - Faroe Islands 1:1A. Brazauskas' birthday celebration at the Palace of LordsAnniversary celebration of 75 years of Vilnius "Žalgiris".