"The largest number of available shelter spaces is in the Korabelnyi District," — the Department of Education on kindergartens in Mykolaiv

The inability to arrange safe conditions for children and low occupancy in some districts became the main reasons why the Department of Education proposed optimizing the network of preschool institutions in Mykolaiv. This was said by the head of the Department of Education of the Mykolaiv City Council Hanna Lychko, commenting on the decision that was considered at the last city council session.

So far one of three has been closed:
a kindergarten was shut in the Korabelnyi district

This concerns three preschool institutions that earlier sparked a heated discussion among deputies and parents. The Department of Education insists that the decision is not spontaneous, but is based on technical inspections, the actual number of children, and the possibility of ensuring safe stays during air-raid alerts. Recall, it was previously reported: Children have nowhere to go: in the Korabelnyi district kindergartens are being closed due to lack of shelters.

Hanna Lychko emphasized that the issue of optimization is being considered in the context of war, safety, and the rational use of the community’s resources:

“This is not simply our desire to close someone. This is painstaking work that we have been carrying out since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We must use resources rationally and ensure the safety of those children who are in the city.”

According to the head of the department, specialists inspected basements in 72 preschool institutions. Only five kindergartens received a recommendation for use after repair work: there were clean basement premises, but without the necessary toilets, ventilation, and full outfitting. In another 54 institutions the basements were deemed unsuitable for use as shelters without repair and full construction of the simplest protective structures. In addition, 13 kindergartens do not have basements at all.

Currently in Mykolaiv 43 kindergartens are operating that have shelters. This, the Department of Education says, allows the city to accommodate far more children than actually currently attend preschool institutions.

Separately, Hanna Lychko reported that the total capacity of shelters in kindergartens is about 16 thousand people. At the same time, kindergartens are currently attended by 7,800 children, so the system has spare places.

According to her, the most free places in shelters are in the Korabelnyi district. This is due to the fact that some kindergartens there were built with large basement premises that can be used for the safe stay of children.

Read also:
Balabanivka without a future: after the school, they also took away the kindergarten

In addition to optimizing the old network, the city also plans to create new protective structures. In the Inhulskyi district of Mykolaiv they are preparing the construction of three new anti-radiation shelters in preschool institutions. Two projects are to be financed from the city budget together with the state. Another project will be implemented entirely with financial assistance from Lithuania.

Also, Hanna Lychko thanked international partners who helped the city equip shelters for children. According to her, donor funds have already been used to complete 14 projects, and another 10 projects were financed jointly with the city.

In fact, the city authorities are trying to explain that the optimization of the preschool network is related not only to savings but also to whether a particular institution can actually operate under the conditions of military threat. At the same time, for parents the issue remains sensitive, because behind each such decision there are not only figures and basements, but also the availability of a kindergarten near the home.

Recall: in Balabanivka discussions have not subsided after the decision of Mykolaiv City Council deputies to liquidate kindergarten No. 138, located at st. Oleh Kravets, 79. Officials at the city administration officially explain this by saying that the institution has not been operating since the beginning of the full-scale war, and restoring its operation is impossible due to the lack of conditions for arranging a shelter. At the same time, activists Anna Kurkurina and Svitlana Fedorova, who visited the territory of the kindergarten, cast doubt on how the authorities are presenting the situation.

Earlier we wrote:

• Kindergartens on pause, salaries in question: Kim says that educators are not to blame for the war
• Senkevych did not give Fedorova and Kurkurina the floor during the liquidation of three kindergartens
• Minus three kindergartens: the city plans to close preschool institutions, two of them in the Korabelnyi district