Up to 65 schools are under threat of closure: Mykolaiv regional council wants to postpone MES order on compulsory full-time education for IDPs

The central building of the hub school in Snihurivka, photo: archive NikVesti

The Mykolaiv Regional Council is planning to appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a request to postpone for a year or two the order of the Ministry of Education, which obliges children displaced by the war to study full-time in schools at their place of actual residence from 1 September 2025.

This became known on 14 April, at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Science and Education, Innovation, Youth, Family and Sports, Culture and Spirituality of the Regional Council, according to NikVesti.

Because of this provision, Mykolaiv region risks losing part of the educational subvention that is sent to the region where the child is studying full-time. As a result, there may be a massive reduction in teachers in the region, and some schools will have to be closed — especially in de-occupied communities where the number of students is already minimal.

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We are talking about the order of the Ministry of Education and Science №1112, which regulates the procedure for obtaining general secondary education in municipal schools under martial law. It stipulates that displaced children will not be able to continue distance learning in schools in their home regions from the next academic year, even if there are vacancies.

The head of the regional education department, Alla Velikhovska, explained that this could have catastrophic consequences for education in the frontline and de-occupied territories.

«If people from Mykolaiv today live in Chernivtsi or Ivano-Frankivsk, then next year they will not be able to study remotely in our institutions, but will have to go to local schools. The educational subvention will be transferred there along with them. This means that we simply will not have the money to pay teachers' salaries,» Alla Velikhovska emphasised.

According to her, at least 65 schools may be closed in the region, and 40-50% of teachers will have no money to pay salaries, and up to 80% of teachers in de-occupied communities risk losing their jobs. The problem is particularly acute in communities where, according to the new requirements, a class can only be formed if there are at least 24 students.

«This is unacceptable. This means that children will have to be taken out of their homes to attend school. And if special schools and boarding schools are also being cut, it means that our children have to go and live somewhere for 5 days to receive education. This will be a very difficult consequence of this order for us,» added the head of the department.

She noted that other frontline regions, such as Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kharkiv, which are also suffering losses due to the mass exodus of people, could join the initiative.

Following the discussion, the commission recommended preparing a draft appeal from the regional council to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a request to postpone the order of the Ministry of Education and Science for the de-occupied and frontline territories.

Earlier, the Mykolaiv Regional Council also planned to appeal to the Ministry of Education to revise the nutrition and material support standards for orphans and specialised boarding schools.