Odesa schools prepared to accept 6 thousand first-graders

Odesa schools are expecting almost 89,000 students on September 1, of whom almost 6,000 will go to first grade.

This was announced during a briefing by Olena Buynevych, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Odesa City Council.

According to her, in 2025, almost half as many first-graders will enter schools as in 2021, when Odesa schools accepted 12,500 first-graders. However, the official clarified that this refers to those who will go to school full-time.

"Of course, there are parents who enroll their children remotely, who are abroad but want to study in Ukrainian schools, so there will be more students," she said.

According to Olena Buynevych, 120 schools will operate in Odesa starting September 1, 92 of which have their own shelters and 28 have shelters nearby. The official also noted that there are 1,000 vacant places in the city's kindergartens, but some kindergartens are overcrowded.

"If parents need it, they can contact the department, and we will find a kindergarten as close as possible to the one they wanted but found to be overcrowded," she said.

As for school meals, it is currently expected that they will be provided to children in grades 1-4 and children of privileged categories starting September 8. This is due to the fact that procurement procedures have not yet been completed in some places.

"We already have a subvention for feeding children, so we will start doing this as soon as we complete all procurement procedures," said Ms. Buynevych.

For example, the Center for Financing and Economic Activity of Educational Institutions of Peresypskyi District of Odesa conducted a procurement to select a company that will be paid to provide meals for students of the district's general secondary education institutions. The procurement was conducted in the format of an open tender with special features, and the only participant was Fabrika Smaku Limited Liability Company.

Кирило Бойко