26 schools are ready to open on September 2 in Mykolaiv

Anna Lychko. Photo NikVesti

In Mykolaiv, starting from September 2, 26 schools, which have equipped shelters, will start working in full-time and mixed forms.

Hanna Lychko, the head of the education department of the Mykolaiv City Council, announced this at a briefing on August 30, NikVesti reports.

According to her, the decision on the operation of schools should be approved by the Mykolaiv District Military Administration today. Hanna Lychko also noted that it was planned to open 29 educational institutions from September.

«There should have been more, we voiced the number 29, but the donors somehow did not have time. However, 5 more institutions will enter the face-to-face format by September 15. The repair works there have been completed. Now they are cleaning there, arranging the zones. Then the commission will make a departure regarding their acceptance, and after obtaining the approval of the military administration,» Hanna Lychko said.

In addition, from November 1, 7 more schools are to enter the face-to-face format, and by January 1, repair work will be completed in seven more institutions.

We will remind that the city authorities planned to open 40 schools in Mykolaiv for full-time education. But parents will independently choose the format of education for their children.

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

More than half of Mykolaiv schoolchildren plan to study offline as early as September 2024 — that's more than 22,000 children. However, as of the end of June, there is an outflow of students from Mykolaiv. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the student contingent has decreased by 13.8% to 6,380 people.

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 Mykolaiv schools are still working 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 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.