«There are 50 staff members for 40 children in one village» — Kim on the problems facing schools in the Mykolaiv region

Vitalii Kim commented on education issues in the Mykolaiv region. Archive photo: NikVesti

Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, stated that the number of children in the region is now lower than it was before the start of the full-scale war. He also added that the reform to reduce the number of schools is ongoing.

He spoke about this on the Economic Truth podcast.

According to Vitalii Kim, educational reform is ongoing in the region, but its implementation on the ground is being hampered by infrastructure issues and limited funding.

«The situation is such that the number of children is almost the same, but still lower than it was before the war. And the reform to reduce the number of schools and create hub schools, led by the Ministry of Education, is ongoing. We are currently arguing and discussing how to ensure this reform is fully implemented on the ground; to do this, we need to build roads to the schools, because buses have been allocated, schools have been closed, yet the children cannot get there. We are raising this issue, but due to a limited budget, the Ministry of Education cannot fully resolve it,» says Vitalii Kim.

He explained that the reform is necessary, in particular, due to the imbalance in some schools, where the number of staff exceeds the number of pupils.

«A rural school may have around 40 pupils, who are looked after and taught by over 50 staff members. Under such conditions, it is difficult to ensure a proper educational process,» added Vitalii Kim.

He added that distance learning is almost non-existent in the region — at around 10%. Most pupils attend school in person or in a blended format.

As a reminder, in the Mykolaiv region, children travel 27 kilometres daily along a dangerous road from the village of Andriievo-Zoryne to Kalynivka in the Berezanske community to reach their school and nursery.

Schoolchildren from the Mykolaiv region travel 27 kilometres daily along a dangerous road, photo: NikVesti/Alina Vislienko

Later, Vitalii Kim stated that in 2026 the region would receive funding to repair the roads used to transport pupils to schools.

He noted that an analysis of school transport routes had been carried out in the region: data on the number of children, journey times and road conditions had been collected and forwarded to the ministry in September.

Earlier, the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration reported that over 60% of the region’s educational institutions are operating in-person.

Read also the article by NikVesti «Educational losses in Mykolaiv schools: how war, anxiety and distance learning have affected children’s education».