Since the start of the school year, one complaint about school meals has been received via «Khvylka» in Mykolaiv

School meals in Mykolaiv, archive photo from NikVesti

In Mykolaiv, at the start of the new academic year, a single complaint was received via the «Khvylka» chatbot regarding a problem with school meals at one of the lyceums. Following an investigation, it emerged that the situation had arisen due to human error.

This was reported during a briefing on 16 September by Hanna Lychko, head of the education department at Mykolaiv City Council, according to NikVesti.

According to her, the complaint concerned the inadequate organisation of catering at one of the educational establishments. After investigating the circumstances, it was established that the problem arose not through the fault of the municipal production enterprise providing the catering, but due to the actions of an employee at the educational establishment.

«When we looked into the situation, it turned out to be, once again, a human error. In this case, this human error was not the fault of the municipal production enterprise, but of a teaching staff member at the educational institution,» said Hanna Lychko.

According to her, appropriate measures have been taken with regard to the staff member.

Hanna Lychko emphasised that the «Khvylka» chatbot enables them to quickly receive information from parents and pupils about problems with school meals and to respond to them.

«Thanks to the «Khvylka» chat, we can, first and foremost, very quickly find out what is concerning parents and then work on resolving these issues,» noted the head of the education department.

«Khvylka» is a software product developed by the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration. Information about how to use the chatbot has been circulated amongst the city’s educational institutions. As a reminder, a pilot digital project to monitor the quality of school meals in the Mykolaiv region was launched in March 2026.

It should be noted that, as of May 2026, the «Khvylka: School Meals» chatbot had completed its trial period — 40 schools in the Mykolaiv region are now connected to the system. The trial ran until 19 May.

During its first two weeks of operation, the chatbot received three reports of issues with school meals. Two of these were forwarded to the relevant departments for investigation.

Parents and pupils can use the service to report issues regarding the organisation and quality of school meals.

Separately, the region is expanding the use of the «Mriia» state education ecosystem. According to the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration’s Digital Transformation Department, by the start of the new academic year, 288 schools in the region had been connected to the system — that is 69 per cent of all educational institutions.

«Mriia» brings together the key processes of school life within a single digital environment. In particular, pupils and parents have access to information about learning and progress, whilst teachers have tools for managing timetables, class registers, homework and teaching plans. The official «Mriia» website also states that the web portal and app are free for schools, pupils and their parents.

This academic year, «Mriia» has also introduced new features: pupils can complete and submit homework via the app, teachers can mark it via the web portal, and parents can generate electronic certificates of their child’s absence. The timetable generator and the calendar-based subject planning tools have also been updated.