29 schools hope to start full-time and mixed education from September in Mykolaiv

A classroom in the damaged First Ukrainian Gymnasium named after Mykola Arkas in Mykolaiv, photo NikVesti

The Mykolaiv city government plans to start 29 schools for full-time and mixed education from September, but the final decision must be made by the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych told about this in a comment to NikVesti.

Earlier it was reported that the majority of educational institutions of the Mykolaiv region, which will work in full-time mode, will switch to a rotating training format. This is due to the fact that most shelters in educational institutions are not designed for the number of students and school staff. As Alla Velikhovska, head director of the Department of Education and Science, reported during her recent briefing, the Ministry of Education of Ukraine offers three formats of education. The first — educational institutions that work full-time (some with a variable format of education), the second — institutions that will have a mixed form. The third format is also educational institutions where there will be distance learning only. We will remind that about 6.7 billion hryvnias are needed to arrange shelters in all educational institutions of the Mykolaiv region.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych believes that in the 2024-2025 academic year, 29 mixed-education schools can be opened in Mykolaiv.

«As far as the head of the education department Hanna Lachko told me, we plan to open 29 schools in Mykolaiv according to those requirements. Of all the schools in Mykolaiv. They can perform all the tasks assigned by the ministries. I'm sure there will be checks and a decision will be made about the launch. This number may decrease, for example. In any case, we will inform about it in advance so that people can orient themselves to which school they will apply and how. We will analyze this information and be able to say in which schools education will take place in two shifts,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, photo NikVesti

According to him, such schools have the simplest shelters. As for the presence of bomb shelters, there are two such schools in Mykolaiv, according to him.

It should be noted that last year it was also reported about the intention to start face-to-face training in Mykolaiv, but as a result, it never happened. The mayor of Mykolaiv then explained this by the fact that the city is still at risk of being hit by ballistic missiles.

«This year, I hope that there will be a decision (about the possibility of teaching in schools in person, note). There should be such a decision at the regional level, but in any case it should be coordinated with the ministry,» Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

As for schools where it is currently not possible to organize face-to-face training due to the lack of shelters, the mayor noted that the authorities will look for opportunities to build bomb shelters on the territory of such educational institutions with the help of international donors.

«We will continue to work with international partners on the arrangement of bomb shelters, the construction of new bomb shelters on the territory, and the repair of schools. Now, in the near future, the Mykola Arkas First Ukrainian Gymnasium will be renovated at the expense of our partners from Denmark. The second gymnasium is already being renovated. We will gradually build those objects that do not have bomb shelters separately. Seek money from foreign partners for this,» said the mayor.

Read also: She survived four shellings: What is the fate of the historic building of Lyceum No. 2 in the center of Mykolaiv?

Responding to a clarifying question regarding the prospects for restoring the destroyed building of the Mykola Arkas First Ukrainian Gymnasium in the center of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych said that work there should begin in the near future.

«These are foreign partners, they already planned to start the year, but they will start only now. The bureaucracy there is even bigger than ours, as it turned out,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Read also: Arkas Gymnasium awaits restoration: what does the educational institution look like today?

In addition, work on the design of the new building of Lyceum №51, which was hit by an enemy missile in July 2022, is being completed.

«Now, as far as I know, all design issues there are being completed. The winner is determined, the winner designs. It seems to be some Lviv company. She designs, and after completion, we transfer the project to the state restoration service. And they will build it. They are waiting for the project. And the money has been allocated, yes,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Read also: «Here was our life.» Will they rebuild the 51 Lyceum destroyed by the Russians in Mykolaiv?

What about children's education in Mykolaiv?

Shelter in one of the schools of Mykolaiv, photo NikVesti

Mykolaiv schoolchildren have been studying online since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. Although the government, with the help of donors and the state, is actively setting up shelters in educational institutions, which sometimes causes indignation among the townspeople.

The refusal of children to go to school is a guarantee of their personal safety, because Mykolaiv is still in the zone of possible ballistic damage from the Russian military, says Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. At the same time, he emphasizes the importance of preparing shelters and resuming education in schools when the Armed Forces move the front line.

Earlier, the head of Mykolaiv RMA Vitalii Kim explained why schools in Mykolaiv still work online: educational institutions are targets for the Russian army, since at the beginning of a full-scale war, they usually housed military personnel.

It is worth noting that earlier in response to the information request of NikVesti regarding the criteria that educational institutions of Mykolaiv must meet in order to resume full-time work in the 2023-2024 academic year, the city's education department reported: schools will work in accordance with the recommendations of the State Emergency Service and the Sanitary Regulations approved by the Ministry Health Care. The first is the availability of shelter, and the second is drinking water at school.

In the next few years, the authorities plan to equip 54 shelters in kindergartens, schools and lyceums in Mykolaiv.

In general, the outflow of students was recorded in the schools of Mykolaiv this year. Compared to the last academic year, the number of students decreased by 3,300.

Lithuania plans to build a shelter school in the Mykolaiv region by the end of 2024. Similar underground institutions should appear in 5 more regions of Ukraine.

As of February 2024, shelters were installed in 31% of schools in Mykolaiv. These are 21 institutions of general secondary education: 10 lyceums and 11 gymnasiums.

Where in Mykolaiv Oblast is there a full-time education?

57 educational institutions were allowed to work offline in the Mykolaiv region. Most of them are schools of Voznesensk and Pervomaysk districts. In addition, 94 schools work mixed, that is, children study offline in a certain sequence, for example, one week after another. Another 277 educational institutions work online.

It was also possible to organize an offline training process in the front-line Ochakiv, which is still in the zone of damage by the enemy's anti-aircraft missile system. There is a mixed form of education.

According to the monitoring of the Department of Education of the Mykolaiv City Council, 65% of schoolchildren want to study full-time.