The city authorities are going to open half of the schools in Mykolaiv offline from September 1: how to find out which ones

The Ukrainian flag against the background of the destroyed building of the Mykola Arkas gymnasium in Mykolaiv, April 23, 2024, photo: Serhii Ovcharyshyn, NikVesti

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.

This was announced by the city mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych on August 1 during his live broadcast on social networks, NikVesti writes.

«By September 1, we will prepare half — about 40 schools in Mykolaiv will work offline. That is, they have shelter, drinking water, diesel generators, and so on. We continue to repair the second half,» said the mayor.

He also added that parents can find out which educational institutions will work online in the administration of the school where their child studies.

«In some schools, where many children will be registered, we will be able to teach in two shifts. And for all others who do not want to study offline, we will provide the opportunity to study online. To do this, you need to contact your class teacher, your school and find out whether your school will be launched or not,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

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.

Previously, the head of Mykolaiv RMA Vitaliii 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.