₴3.3 million was allocated from the budget of Mykolaiv for the repair of school shelters this year

Shelter in Mykolaiv Lyceum No. 55, photo «Nikvesti"

As of June 2024, 22 shelters have been set up in Mykolaiv schools since the start of the full-scale war. Repairs are currently underway in 16 more educational institutions.

This is stated in the article NikVesti «The second attempt. Will it be possible to open Mykolaiv schools offline this year?».

In general, as of today, about 35% of schools in the city have renovated shelters, Deputy Mayor Anatoliy Petrov said. But usually Mykolaiv schools do not have anti-radiation shelters or bomb shelters, so basements are converted into shelters. After the necessary improvements and repairs, they receive the status of the simplest shelters, that is, where children and educators can stay during air raids.

— Unfortunately, we cannot organize storage facilities or the simplest shelters in all educational institutions, because some institutions do not have basements. We have 26 schools that do not have the conditions to create storage facilities, said Anatoliy Petrov.

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International partners also help with the arrangement of shelters in Mykolaiv schools, the city's education department reported. During the entire time of the full-scale war, shelters were set up in 11 schools of the city with donor funds.

In total, 19.5 million hryvnias have been allocated from the city budget for more than two years: 376.6 thousand hryvnias — in 2022, 15.8 million hryvnias — in 2023, and 3.3 million hryvnias — in 2024.

What about children's education in Mykolaiv?

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 Mykolaiv schools 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. There are 21 institutions of general secondary education: 10 lyceums and 11 gymnasiums.

Where in the 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 Pervomaisk districts. In addition, 94 schools work mixed, that is, children learn offline in a certain order, for example, one week after another. Another 277 educational institutions work online.

It was also possible to organize an offline educational 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 wish to study full-time.