Fewer schoolchildren in Mykolaiv: 35,000 pupils are expected to leave this year

UNDP in Mykolaiv inspects completion of works at Mykolaiv Professional Physical Education College, photo: NikVesti

The outflow of students from schools continues in Mykolaiv. According to preliminary data, about 35,000 children will start the school year on 1 September, while at the beginning of the full-scale invasion there were 46,000.

This was reported by the head of the education department of the Mykolaiv City Council, Hanna Lychko, according to NikVesti.

According to her, last year 51% of students chose a full-time mixed format, and this year it is already 69%. About 31% have chosen distance learning so far.

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The number of first-grade classes is also decreasing. While in 2021, there were 159 first grades with more than 4,500 students in the city's schools, this year they plan to form only 96 classes with 2,411 children.

A similar trend is observed among tenth-graders: from 74 classes and 2,297 students at the beginning of the war to the projected 61 classes and 1,857 students in the 2025/2026 school year.

The Department of Education notes that the reasons for the decline are population migration and a decline in the birth rate. This also affects the network of lyceums, which is now too large for the city.

«So this figure and the trend indicate that the network of lyceums we have will probably be too big for our city. Unfortunately, this does not depend on the heads of educational institutions, we cannot say that someone works poorly or too well there, not on the education department, but we have clear requirements in the law on education for who can be a lyceum,» said Hanna Lychko.

It is worth reminding that the Pervomaiska community plans to liquidate the Chausove gymnasium, which has 33 children. Students will be transported to other educational institutions.