School camps will not be held in Mykolaiv this year due to the security situation

School camps will not open in Mykolaiv this summer due to martial law and security restrictions.

This was announced during an online broadcast on 30 April by Hanna Lychko, head of the Mykolaiv City Council’s Education Department, according to NikVesti.

According to her, the security situation in the city currently does not allow for the organisation of camps based at schools.

«Summer is already quite close, but we will still not be able to open school-based camps this year, as the security situation has not yet improved. In total, we have 64 general secondary education establishments, attended by 34,572 pupils,» noted Hanna Lychko.

At the same time, she added that emergency nurseries will operate from 1 July to 20 August.

«This year, we will ensure that essential pre-school education facilities remain open. The necessary regulatory framework has already been developed, and the relevant decisions have been adopted by the city council and the executive committee. Every child will be guaranteed a place for the duration of the summer holidays,» she said.

According to the official, a list of nurseries that will operate during the summer and accept children from those institutions that will be temporarily closed due to holidays has already been drawn up.

In addition, out-of-school education establishments in Mykolaiv will continue to operate as usual.

It should be noted that there are 28 pre-school education establishments in Mykolaiv without their own shelters. The City Council’s Education Department is preparing proposals regarding the future operation of such kindergartens, which they plan to present later.

It should be recalled that following discussions, members of the Mykolaiv City Council voted to close only one nursery — №138 on Oleh Kravets Street in Balabanivka. The vote on the other two — №104 and №128 — failed to secure the necessary majority.

Why does Mykolaiv want to close three nurseries?

The Mykolaiv Education Department initiated the decision to close three nurseries: №104 (a nursery on Torhova Street in the Korabelnyi district), №128 (a nursery-kindergarten at the junction of Mariupolska and Pavlo Skoropadskyi Streets (formerly Admiral Makarov Street)), and №138 (a nursery-kindergarten on Oleg Kravets Street in Balabanivka). The official reason is the lack of and impossibility of installing shelters. This means that if the motion is passed at the session, such educational establishments will no longer exist in Mykolaiv, and their total number will decrease.

During the committee meeting, the chair of the education committee, Hanna Nord, stated that it is the institutions themselves that are being proposed for closure , whilst the buildings will remain the property of the city.

And following the closure of the three pre-school educational establishments, initiated by the Mykolaiv Education Department, the Municipal Property Management Department and the City Council will decide how to use them.

What do city councillors think about the closure?

Councillor Olena Kiseliova supported the rationale behind closing the preschools, stating that it is not cost-effective for the city to maintain them. She says that there is a broader issue behind the closure than the fact that they lack shelters and it is impossible to build them there. During the war, the institutions have been idle, but all this time it has been necessary to maintain the buildings and staff.

Councillor Artem Ilyuk stated that he could support the legal closure of the three kindergartens, but said he would not support the subsequent privatisation of these buildings.

Tamila Buhaienko, former deputy mayor of Mykolaiv, also commented on the Education Department’s proposal to close the three nurseries. She believes this could lead to a shortage of places in pre-school facilities once the war ends.

Yurii Hranaturov, Mayor of Mykolaiv from 2014 to 2016, stated that the issue of kindergartens is critically important for the city, especially given the changing demographics and the renewed demand for pre-school education. According to him, the situation with kindergartens in Mykolaiv has already gone through various phases on numerous occasions — from a surplus to a shortage of places.

Anna Remennikova, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, believes that if some kindergartens are closed down and subsequently privatised, the funds generated should be directed towards modernising existing facilities.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said that there is currently no talk of privatising kindergartens.