In the basement of Gymnasium №24 in Mykolaiv, following complaints of stuffiness, insufficient air exchange was discovered

During an inspection of the shelter at Gymnasium No. 24 in Mykolaiv, inadequate ventilation was found when the shelter was at maximum capacity with pupils present. Parents had previously complained that during air raid alerts, the room became stuffy and the children felt unwell.

This is stated in the response from the Mykolaiv City Council’s Department of Education to an information request from NikVesti.

As noted by the department, following media reports of ventilation problems in the shelter at Gymnasium №24, a commission carried out an inspection there.

«The commission from the Mykolaiv City Council’s Department of Education carried out an inspection of the ventilation in the shelter and identified shortcomings — insufficient air exchange when the shelter is at maximum capacity with pupils,» the response states.

To ensure fewer children are in the shelter at any one time, the school’s administration has reorganised the teaching schedule.

«To reduce the simultaneous load on the shelter, the school administration has organised lessons in two shifts,» the Education Department reported.

On 29 September, the shelter’s ventilation system was inspected once again. The technical inspection again revealed shortcomings.

«On 29 September 2026, a technical inspection of the shelter’s ventilation system was carried out. Certain shortcomings were identified, which are being rectified,» the Department noted in its response.

At the same time, the Department of Education noted that the ventilation system in the shelter at Gymnasium №24 has been deemed to be in working order, although there remain some comments regarding its operation.

«The ventilation in the shelters at Secondary School №24 and Preschool №99 has been deemed to be in working order; there are comments, which are noted in the maintenance logs for the ventilation systems. The deadlines for completing the work depend on the contractor providing the Department of Education with defect reports, carrying out the necessary calculations and the availability of funding,» the document states.

In other words, the Education Department has not specified a precise deadline by which the issues with the ventilation system at Gymnasium №24 are to be fully resolved.

The shelter at Gymnasium №24 is designed to accommodate approximately 416 people. This is the most basic type of shelter, and its suitability for use has been confirmed by an inspection report dated 8 January 2026. The ventilation system in the building was installed and commissioned in January 2025. The client for the works was «Zakhyst», a municipal enterprise of the Mykolaiv City Council, and the contractor was «Yulstroi» Ltd. However, the Department of Education noted that it had not received any information regarding the contract number and date, nor the cost estimate documentation.

The shelter is fitted with a forced supply and extract ventilation system, which is designed to ensure the inflow of outside air and the removal of air from the premises. Following its installation, the contractor carried out commissioning works. However, no certificates confirming the completion of these works were provided to the Department of Education.

«Following the installation of the ventilation system, the contractors carried out commissioning work. The contractors did not provide any certificates for this work,» the Department noted.

However, during routine inspections of the shelter in 2025–2026, no issues regarding the ventilation system’s malfunction were recorded, and no complaints were received from parents by the Education Department. The problem of inadequate air circulation was only identified after reports about the ventilation in the shelter appeared in the media at the start of this academic year.

What parents and the education department had said previously

As a reminder, on 23 September, NikVesti reported on complaints from parents of pupils at Gymnasium №24 regarding conditions in the shelter. They said that during air raid alerts, the room felt stuffy, the children felt unwell and had headaches. One mother compared the conditions in the shelter to a «sauna effect».

At the start of the school year, 413 pupils and staff members went down to the shelter at the same time during an air-raid alert.

At the time, the head of the education department, Hanna Lychko, confirmed in a comment to NikVesti that there was ventilation in the shelter, but attributed the problem to the high temperature of the air coming in from outside.

The Department of Education also recommended reducing the number of children in the shelter at any one time. Following this, the school switched to a two-shift system.

The school’s headteacher, Tamara Zherebtsova, said at the time that the ventilation system had already been inspected. According to her, experts recommended raising the ventilation pipe that leads outside to improve air circulation.

As a reminder, on 6 October, the head of the Education Department, Hanna Lychko, reported that a total of 97 shelters are in use across educational establishments in Mykolaiv. She said that a full inspection of the ventilation systems had already been carried out in 86 of them, whilst in four, inspections had revealed shortcomings which, according to the official, had already been rectified. The first round of maintenance on the ventilation systems is scheduled to be fully completed by 20 October.