«Children vomit every morning»: in Mykolaiv region, students travel more than 20 km on emergency road to school

Schoolchildren from Mykolaiv region cover 27 kilometres of emergency road every day, photo: NikVesti/Alina Vislenko

In the Mykolaiv region, children travel 27 kilometres every day on an emergency road from the village of Andriievo-Zoryne to Kalynivka in the Berezanka community to get to school and kindergarten.

This was reported by a correspondent for NikVesti.

According to school bus driver Fedir Vislenko, children from the age of three to kindergarten, as well as students from grades 1 to 11, use this road every day.

«The road is becoming increasingly impassable. Children from the age of 3 to kindergarten and students from grades 1 to 11 go to school on this road every day. We cover the distance of 27 kilometres in an hour. This condition of the road has a strong impact on the children's health: they throw up every morning during the journey, and we have to stop and wait. In addition, it negatively affects the technical condition of the bus. I urge the leaders of the Berezanka community, deputies and heads of the district administration to drive our route with the children and see the condition of the road with their own eyes. We need to urgently draw conclusions and take measures to resolve this issue,» said bus driver Fedir Vislenko.

The road to school, photo: NikVesti/Alina Vislenko

The road to school, photo: NikVesti/Alina Vislenko

In a commentary to NikVesti, teacher's assistant Alina Rybchenko said that the school bus carries 26 children and 4 teachers. According to her, it takes about an hour to get to school in Kalynivka, and the children often throw up, so they have to stop two or three times.

«The road is hard, it takes about an hour, and the children are still small. There are children in each class who we pick up. Two children often get sick, we stop two or three times, waiting for them to come to their senses. We are not asking for major repairs, it is enough to at least eliminate problematic sections of the road that really pose a threat to the transportation of children. Many people write in comments on TikTok or Facebook that every village has such a road. We understand this, yes, there are roads, but not every village has a 27-kilometre walk to school. And not in every village children have to travel an hour to school, from kindergarten to grade 11. Our school is located in Kalynivka. We bring 26 children — a full bus — and 4 teachers with them,» Alina Rybchenko told us.

In addition, she said that the last lessons for children are sometimes cancelled, or classes are shortened and held asynchronously.

«The principal goes along with it: the last lesson is asynchronous, homework is given or it's physical education, so we have to leave early to avoid arriving at night. If all 7 lessons are held according to the standard schedule, we arrive around 4:40 pm, when it is already dark, because it is winter time. The principal tries to help with the lessons so that we can leave a little earlier. When classes are shortened, asynchronous or physical education, we can leave a little earlier. But in general, the road is very difficult,» added Alina Rybchenko.

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Residents of Voznesensk complain about public transport disruptions: what is known

As a reminder, Voznesensk has been experiencing problems with public transport for several weeks now: private carriers have not been running buses on routes and residents are only informed about them after the fact.

As you know, on 5 December, a meeting was held in Voznesensk due to numerous complaints from residents about disruptions in public transport. In particular, the meeting was attended by Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Myzhalo and the administrator of the district state administration Olena Maksiutenko. During the discussion, they came to the conclusion that the main problem is the shortage of drivers.

According to local residents, the problems with public transport began about a month or two ago: buses often fail to run or change direction.

In addition, the Voznesensk City Council has announced vacancies for those wishing to work as drivers. The editorial staff of NikVesti tried to clarify the details by calling the number indicated in the message (095-125-22-36), but the person who answered the phone said that he no longer worked at this number.