The readiness of 22 shelters in the city's schools was approved in Mykolaiv

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

In Mykolaiv, as of August 21, 22 of the simplest shelters were installed in the city's general secondary education institutions, which were checked and approved by the commission.

This was announced by the mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkevych.

According to him, in addition to 22 ready-made shelters, repair work is still ongoing in 15 educational institutions.

«For safety reasons, I ask parents to directly contact the educational institutions where the child studies, or the education department of the Mykolaiv City Council (37-53-14) to find out the relevant information,» he added.

It was previously reported that starting in September, the city authorities plan to open 40 schools in Mykolaiv for full-time education. But parents will independently choose the format of education for their children.

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.

Previously, 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.