They can't stand the workload and low salaries: Mykolaiv schools lack cooks and technologists

Mykolaiv schools lack experienced cooks and technologists, as some have already resigned due to hard work and low salaries.

This became known during a briefing on catering in Mykolaiv schools, according to NikVesti.

Deputy Mayor of Mykolaiv Anatolii Petrov said that cooks have to work all day and even on weekends.

«Unfortunately, there is a problem with staffing in many municipal enterprises today. Today, there are no highly qualified cooks or technologists who are ready to work in school canteens. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the work is very hard. For example, take school 55, a team of 6 people cooks for 850 children. They start at 04:00 and finish very late. They work virtually all day. And on Saturday and Sunday they go out to make preparations. And the pay is low. I would like it to be higher, because now the pay is slightly higher than the minimum wage,» he said.

Anatoliy Petrov adds that the number of children being fed used to be smaller, so there was less work to do. According to him, the cooks simply cannot withstand such a workload for a salary of 10,000 hryvnias.

According to Petro Vasheniak, director of the municipal production enterprise for catering in educational institutions, there is currently a shortage of about 100 employees.

«A lot of people have resigned. We are short about 100 employees. Over the past week, about 20 employees have resigned. The reasons for leaving are heavy work schedules and low salaries. A complicated menu,» says Petro Vasheniak.

We remind you that in the first days of September, maggots were found in porridge at a school in Mykolaiv. This information was confirmed today, on 19 September, by Hanna Lychko, head of the Mykolaiv Education Department, when asked by a journalist from NikVesti.

Earlier, parents of Mykolaiv schoolchildren expressed dissatisfaction with free meals on social media. According to them, the portions were smaller than normal, the meals were served cold, and the crockery in the school canteens was dirty.

Petro Vasheniak, director of the municipal production enterprise for catering in Mykolaiv educational institutions , said he had personally checked the situation, particularly at school 41, where parents complained about the amount of food on the plate. According to him, the portions were in line with the standards, but in the photo, part of the dish was hidden — for example, a chicken nugget was lying on top of potatoes.

Later, the State Food and Consumer Service of Mykolaiv stated that they had not received any complaints about poor quality food in the city's school canteens.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, responded to the parents' complaints by saying that a special commission would be set up in the city with representatives of the city council to monitor the situation.

Following the incident, the Main Department of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Mykolaiv region checked the food served to children in 15 schools in the city. Experts analysed photo reports of the meals served to students.

As a reminder, in Mykolaiv, parents of pupils at Mykola Arkas Lyceum, which is temporarily operating on the basis of gymnasium №39, complain about problems with food in the canteen. According to them, the children are served portions that were not finished by the students of the gymnasium.

It is known that in the new school year, all pupils from grades 1 to 11 will be provided with free meals in Mykolaiv schools. The funding for meals will be shared: up to 70% of the costs will be covered by the state, and the rest by the city budget.