Locations“This is a story of our triumph”
A director rescues his vocational school from war – and builds something even better
When Ihor Haievyi walked through the doors of the Bakhmut Centre for Vocational Education on 1 February 2022 as its new director, he couldn’t have imagined that in just three weeks his world would turn upside down.
The full-scale Russian invasion began on 24 February 2022. Suddenly, the former military officer found himself facing the greatest challenge of his career: how to save not just equipment and buildings, but an entire educational community – his staff, students, and decades of institutional knowledge.
As shells began falling closer to Bakhmut, Haievyi knew they were running out of time. The city that had been his home since 1991, when he left the Hungarian military and transitioned into education, was becoming a battlefield.
“We had to act fast,” Haievyi recalls. By summer 2022, the decision was made: evacuate everything that could be moved. Sewing machines, welding equipment, kitchen tools from the newly opened culinary workshops – all had to be packed and transported to safety.
The centre, which had grown through mergers with institutions in Debaltseve, Soledar, and three other Bakhmut schools, was more than just a building. It was a 67-year-old institution that had trained generations of workers, evolving from a simple vocational school serving a metals plant in 1955 into one of Donetsk Oblast’s largest multi-specialty training centres.
Before the evacuation, the school had even served as a shelter for displaced people from neighbouring communities – a preview of the displacement that would soon affect everyone there.
The journey to safety wasn’t direct. First, they tried the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine, but it wasn’t the right fit. Then Haievyi heard about Hoshcha, a village of 30,000 people about 20 kilometres from Rivne in northwestern Ukraine. It seemed unlikely at first – Hoshcha had industrial businesses but had never hosted a vocational education institution. But when Haievyi visited to meet met with local leaders and to assess the possibilities, something clicked.
“The community welcomed us with open arms,” he says. By September 2022, just seven months after fleeing Bakhmut, they had found their new home in a former polyclinic building.
What happened next surprised everyone, including Haievyi himself. With support from the EU and UNDP – partners who had already helped renovate the Bakhmut workshops in 2021 – the team began rebuilding. But this wasn’t just about replacing what they’d lost.
The former polyclinic was transformed into modern workshops. Culinary students got state-of-the-art facilities. An automotive workshop opened with new equipment. A café began serving the community while providing real-world training for students. Plans for an electrician training centre moved forward.
“Right now, our resources are even better and more extensive than they were in Bakhmut,” Haievyi reflects with obvious pride. “What my team has accomplished in just two years is nothing short of heroic. For me, this is a story of our triumph.”
The transformation wasn’t just about equipment and buildings – it was about people. Nearly 100 percent of the teaching staff made the journey from Bakhmut to Hoshcha, a remarkable retention rate that speaks to their commitment and Haievyi’s leadership.
The school created more than 100 jobs, employing both evacuated staff from Bakhmut and new local hires.
Today, 640 students are enrolled in both in-person and online programmes, travelling from nearby villages and even remote areas to study in Hoshcha. The centre stands as one of the few vocational schools from Donetsk Oblast that has managed to continue offering in-person training.
For Haievyi, the students are the real measure of success. “They are highly motivated to learn,” he says, his voice carrying the pride of an educator who has seen his life’s work not just survive, but thrive.
Photo credit: Valentyna Polishchuk / Reporters / UNDP in Ukraine
