Survived four shellings: What is the fate of the historic building of Lyceum №2 in the center of Mykolaiv?

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Mykolaiv educational institutions have suspended offline education. Since then, they have faced a considerable number of problems: the exodus of students abroad, the lack of shelters and, probably most importantly, the Russian attacks that destroyed more than half of the educational institutions. 49 out of 68 schools were damaged to varying degrees, some were severely damaged or beyond repair.

Mykolaiv educational institutions are currently working online, because they are still targets for the Russian army, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitalii Kim said earlier. Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych explained that Mykolaiv schoolchildren are still learning remotely because of the risk of being hit by ballistic missiles. However, despite this, the process of rebuilding schools destroyed by shelling has been going on in the city for the second year. After all, at the first opportunity, they plan to return schoolchildren to study at desks.

Lyceum №2 in the center of Mykolaiv became one of the educational institutions partially destroyed by Russia. It was fired upon four times, the most powerful being the arrival of the S300 rocket. The destruction of the institution's building amounted to 10%. NikVesti found out how the institution lives and is being restored today, as well as what awaits it in the future.

Lyceum №2 in the history of Mykolaiv

The educational institution, which was once a girls' gymnasium, is one of the oldest in Mykolaiv. Its history dates back to 1843, when a three-class girls' school was founded. However, the building that has survived to our time was already the second construction. The architect of the project was Yevhenii Shtukenberg.

It was built in 1898, and in 1914 there were already 370 schoolgirls studying in the gymnasium.

In the spring of 1920, the last graduation of high school girls of the Mykolaiv Women's Public Gymnasium №2 took place. In September of the same year, students came to seven-year labor school №2, where girls began to study together with boys.

Thus began a new stage in the history of the gymnasium, new subjects appeared: Ukrainian language, Latin, trigonometry, and at the same time students received good work training. Then, from a seven-year labor school, she transferred to secondary comprehensive school №2.

Already at the time of independence, by the decision of the Mykolaiv City Council in 1996, two schools were established on the basis of the institution — School №59, which taught elementary school children, and Gymnasium №2 itself.

The school suffered from 4 attacks

The first shelling of the school took place in April 2022. The building was damaged by the use of cluster bombs, the impact sites of which can still be seen in the school yard.

«Three at the door, and two before the entrance to the school. They wanted to laugh at us on April 1st. By the way, I had the same person on duty for each arrival. And every time it flew in and took everything here to the devil's mother, he went outside the school to smoke. Now try to say that smoking is harmful to health,» joked Lyceum director Volodymyr Fedorenko.

A few months later, on September 14, during a massive attack on Mykolaiv, the gymnasium was damaged for the second time due to the arrival of a Russian S-300 installation.

The director recalls that after both strong attacks, hundreds of people joined to help the school in liquidating the consequences.

«Each time, such a large number of people came here that in two days we hammered everything every time and restored it. It was the parents and the government, of course. And how can the authorities not help, if I once told Vitalii Kim that it is impossible to giggle stupidly in classes and get teachers. Now he gets all of Russia,» the school director laughs.

For the third time, the school was badly damaged by an attack on the historic Admiralty building on April 27, 2023.

«178 windows, half of which were blown out by the blast wave. There were no doors here,» says the school director.

Due to the attack on the house at 32 Admiralska Street in July 2023, the school suffered for the fourth time.

«There we had an apartment with the headmaster, our students lived there. These are our people, and their history is before my eyes. And it's good that at least the documents were taken away. We broke the record among our educational institutions, four times no one received. We are the best again,» says the school director.

Although problems with the condition of the institution were relevant even before the Russian invasion, because in March 2021, the premises of the gymnasium building were recognized as emergency.

At the same time, a petition to preserve the institution appeared on the website of the Mykolaiv City Council, which was supported by more than a thousand townspeople. Vitalii Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, put forward his proposal for cooperation with the city.

In May 2021, two companies responded to a commercial proposal to investigate the emergency situation of the gymnasium. According to their research, it turned out that only part of the roof is in danger, and there is no threat to the educational process. Then the library and museum were «moved out» from the wing of the gymnasium. Even then, the city authorities promised that gymnasium №2 plans to carry out current repairs by the end of 2021, and capital works will be postponed for the time being.

Before the invasion, more than a thousand children studied at the school. Since the beginning of the war, 42% of children study in school while staying outside of Ukraine. The management of the institution predicts that 794 children will go to offline studies for the academic year 2024-2025.

«This number will go to study, if everything goes well. We are 100% ready for the start of training at a high level. First, we have a ready-made shelter for 360 people. I suggest sitting in two shifts, and that way everyone fits. The repair itself was done in the shelter at the expense of the city, but donors drilled a 52-meter well for us, installed osmosis, and now we have drinking water in the school. We have warmth. There are video cameras on the territory,» explained the director.

The senior teacher of Lyceum №2, Natalya Chernikova, added that when going to full-time education, the school will also work in a mixed format, because not all parents will be ready to let their children go to classes or if the students do not have the physical opportunity to attend classes.

«The war continues. This, of course, is a risk and each family must decide for themselves, weigh it up. Therefore, in our school, we are considering several options. Among them is also blended learning, when we can teach both online and live in the classroom, when a certain number of children whose parents let them go to school, we work. And in parallel, through online communication, we also study with children who are either in the city or, if the ministry allows, abroad, so that the children get the education they are used to and can continue to communicate freely in a foreign language, and enter those universities that are not only prestigious, but also provide a serious level of education for further implementation,» the woman explained.

The Lyceum is promised to be rebuilt by 2025

Two years ago, students studied in the destroyed premises of the lyceum. Today, instead of them, the building of the institution has one solid hole from the arrival. However, the staff of Lyceum №2 believes that the institution will be rebuilt and the walls of the institution will once again hear children's laughter.

«I am not afraid to say, but I am a patriot of the institution, because I have been working here for 25 years. I never had an idea, a proposal to transfer to another school. They offered to go to work for the regional council, they offered to work in journalism. But I believe that our lyceum provides a level of knowledge, a level of education and a level of intelligence, which is instilled by the team, parents. We have very powerful, very intellectual parents and children. That's why we really miss the lessons, we miss the crowd of children at school,» says teacher Nataliia Chernikova.

Today, the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration deals with the issue of rebuilding the lyceum. This is primarily due to the fact that his destroyed building is being restored with the funds of a state subsidy for the implementation of projects to eliminate the consequences of the war.

The restoration of the historic building of gymnasium №2 was included in the four objects, for the restoration of which the government allocated 1.2 billion hryvnias in 2024, Mykola Marinov, the deputy head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, said earlier in a comment to NikVesti. From these funds, 149.5 million hryvnias were allocated from the state budget for the reconstruction of the institution.

But in order to restore the destroyed building of the lyceum, it was necessary to make design and estimate documentation for the execution of these works. The Department of Town Planning, Architecture, Capital Construction and Support of Development Projects of Mykolaiv Oblast ordered such a project in the summer of 2023. Its production was estimated at 1.4 million hryvnias. And the contract was concluded without holding an auction with the limited liability company «Autograf-N», which has been operating in Mykolaiv since 2007. The founder and head of the enterprise is Nina Sterpul, a relative of the co-owner of the construction company «Zhytloprombud-8» Hryhorii Sterpul, who repaired the Mykolaiv airport for 40 million hryvnias without a tender.

Already in November 2023, the Department of Town Planning, Architecture, Capital Construction and Support of Development Projects of Mykolayiv Oblast announced tenders for works on the restoration of the historic building of Lyceum №2. At that time, these works were valued at 153.2 million hryvnias. The victory in the auction was won by the construction company «Zhytloprombud-8» of Hryhorii Sterpul, which offered to rebuild the lyceum for 145.5 million hryvnias, which is almost 10 million hryvnias less than the expected cost.

According to the concluded contract, the contractor must, by December 31, 2024, perform preparatory work, repair and restoration work, internal and external restoration work, make a transition, lightning protection, driveways, install road signs, external water supply and sewerage networks, arrange paths and paving, make drainage of atmospheric precipitation from the territory, fence, gate, plinth, ventilation shaft, landscaping, install small architectural forms and a platform with a canopy for garbage containers.

However, the institution is planned to be completely rebuilt by 2025, the Department of Town Planning, Architecture, Capital Construction and Support of Development Projects of the Mykolaiv Oblast explained to NikVesti.

«The work began in 2023, but this work is at the initial stage, the implementation of project solutions is expected within 18 months, taking into account the need to comply with all necessary procedures — allocation of funds from the state budget, obtaining permits, and so on — completion of the work is planned for 2025,» they said there.

Today, these works are ongoing. There is equipment on the territory of the educational institution, employees of the contracting organization work in the premises. Most of the work is going to be done this year.

«Gymnasium №2 is an architectural monument of local importance, so restoration work will be carried out on it. The project is complex, it involves both the restoration of the destroyed part and the restoration of the facades of the monument, which are objects of protection. This year, it is planned to carry out most of the works, i.e. directly and construction works from the inside, where there was a direct hit, as well as work on the facades and interior decoration of the premises,» explained the Department of Town Planning, Architecture, Capital Construction of the RMA.

The construction company, in addition to restoration work after the shelling and restoration of the building, should also arrange shelters in the educational institution, it was explained earlier in the comment of NikVesti in the Mykolayiv RMA.

Today, the lyceum already has one equipped shelter for schoolchildren. It was renovated with funds from the budget of Mykolaiv and currently it has all the necessary conditions for children to stay there, assured the director of Lyceum №2 Volodymyr Fedorenko.

«We can have people here when necessary. We have already been checked several times. There is an act according to which our shelters were allowed to work. This shelter for the youngest is an elementary school up to the fifth grade, and then we have high school students. Here we have all the necessary equipment: flashlights, all kinds of kits. There is emergency lighting everywhere, which works for four hours. And the hood works for four hours, also without light on its batteries. We are still preparing, installing water tanks,» he said.

The second shelter will be built in another building of the educational institution and it will be a full-fledged bomb shelter for children, explained the director of the lyceum.

«We will have storage facilities for children here. Moreover, they will no longer be temporary, but will have the status of a bomb shelter. It is clear that there will be full protection against debris. They build with the requirements of inclusion and protection,» Volodymyr Fedorenko said.

Where to get funds for next year is not yet known

In total, according to the estimate, 216.7 million hryvnias are needed for the reconstruction of the destroyed building of Lyceum №2, the Department of Urban Planning, Architecture, Capital Construction and Support of Development Projects of the Mykolaiv Oblast informed NikVesti. If the government allocated 149.5 million hryvnias for this this year, then where the funds will come from next year is not yet known, says the RMA. However, they added, the lyceum reconstruction project has been included in the DREAM ecosystem and is expected to receive donor funds.

«Funds have been allocated for this year, the remaining funds will be allocated next year, but the source of funding has not yet been determined. This project is included in the DREAM ecosystem, a unique state electronic ecosystem that provides a single digital route for all recovery projects. Projects from this system are offered for implementation, including for our international partners, so we will look for an opportunity to receive funds from donors. But it can be any sources that are not prohibited by law,» said the Department of Town Planning, Architecture and Capital Construction of the RMA.

Today, the issue of rebuilding the Mykolaiv Lyceum №2 is more or less clear, since this process has not only been launched, but concrete steps have been taken for this: a project for the restoration of the destroyed building has been made, a contractor has been chosen, funding has been received from the state for the current year, and work has already begun on objects

Despite this, the question of financing the reconstruction of the lyceum for 2025 remains unclear. The regional authorities are considering different sources of funding: both state funds and donor financial assistance. Therefore, the issue of further funding for the completion of restoration works remains open. It is interesting that the situation with the reconstruction of Lyceum №60, which is also financed by state funds, is similar in terms of financing. However, students and teachers of Lyceum №2 are waiting for the reconstruction of the school and hope to return to their school life in the new walls of the institution.

The material was worked on by Alisa Melik-Adamian and Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti