The «Golden» Lyceum for 130 students: during the war, 400,000 UAH was spent from the budget on the renovation of one classroom, and 1.8 million UAH on the shelter

01.09.2023

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Under the jurisdiction of the infamous Department of Education of the Dniprovsky district in Kyiv city administration, led by chief Ivanina Nataliia Vasylivna, which procured 12 sets of food processing equipment for over 1.5 million UAH ($41 100) at inflated prices labeled «for shelter», there are several educational institutions that are separate legal entities and can independently spend tens of millions of budgetary hryvnias. At first glance, it may seem that we are talking about educational institutions of the full cycle — from the first grade to the graduation class of high school, where hundreds, and perhaps even up to a thousand, students receive education. But no, for now, we will talk about an educational institution where, as of the beginning of the last academic year, there were only 4 (!) classes with a total of 126 students.

This is the Art Lyceum «Zmina» in the Dniprovsky district of Kyiv.

Interestingly, the teaching staff of this institution, better described as an elementary school, consisted of 91 educational workers at that time. This means that in the 2022/2023 academic year, there were not even two students per teacher in this institution (!).

These educators are only involved in the current education of students, as it is stated on the «Zmina» website that the lyceum does not provide additional paid educational services.

Most likely, by September 1, 2023, the lyceum had enrolled two more classes, and it can be assumed that there will be approximately 180 students at the celebratory assembly today. However, this information was not available on the institution’s website at the time of preparing the material.

Repairs for 6 million UAH ($165 000)

An analysis of tender platforms revealed that during the full-scale war, the “Zmina” Art Lyceum in the Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv spent approximately 6.3 million UAH on the renovation of several classrooms, a choreographic hall, and part of the facade.

Repair work began about six months after the full-scale invasion. Initially, the amounts for renovating one classroom were around 260,000 UAH ($7000).

Then the amounts kept increasing. In May 2023, approximately 716,000 UAH ($20 000) was spent on this, and in June 2023, about 556,000 UAH ($15000) was spent.

Additionally, in May 2023, according to the contract, the institution spent 552,000 UAH ($15000) on current repairs of a choreographic hall with an area of 160 square meters. In April, they put out a tender proposal for the replacement of 21 windows, with an estimated cost of 634,200 UAH ($17000).

In February 2023, they spent nearly 365,000 UAH ($10000) on the repair of another premises of the lyceum.

They managed to spend 370,000 UAH ($10000) during the active phase of the war, according to the final contract, on repairing the ventilation system.

During the New Year holidays in December 2022, they spent almost 800,000 UAH ($22000) on restroom repairs.

They also didn’t forget to replace the flooring, on which they spent almost 0.5 million UAH ($13000) in December 2022.

Following the scandal with vegetable cutters and drums through a simplified procedure, almost 1.5 million UAH ($41000) was spent on major repairs and insulation of the facade of the «Zmina» Art Lyceum.

Furthermore, in 2021, 1 million UAH ($27400) was spent on developing project and estimate documentation and partial major repairs to the facade of «Zmina».

Procurements for the school shelter

The tenders on the Ukrainian Universal Exchange suggest that the «Zmina» Art Lyceum in the Dniprovsky district of Kyiv possibly has one of the most expensive shelters in Kyiv.

Only the technological equipment for this shelter cost the budget 1.2 million UAH ($33000), according to the final contract.

These are two special boards from the German company Rational AG at a price of 725,700 UAH ($20000) and 474,300 UAH ($13000).

Additionally, 100 Chinese desks were purchased for a total of 360,000 UAH ($10000)based on the final contract.

Almost 200,000 UAH ($5500) of budget funds were spent on musical instruments and accessories for conducting classes in the shelters.

Let us remind you that a few months ago, there was a scandal around the Department of Education of the Dniprovsky District State Administration in Kyiv due to dubious procurements disguised as needs for bomb shelters:

the procurement of 12 sets of food processing equipment for over 1.5 million UAH (which could buy 13 Mavic 3 drones) in December 2022 with the note ‘for the shelter’,
in April 2023, a tender was announced under the title ‘Musical instruments for psychological relief for children in shelters during air alerts’ for almost 1 million UAH ($27 thousand),
in April 2023, another tender was announced titled ‘Constructors for playing and learning in shelters during air alerts’ for almost 953 thousand UAH of budget funds.

The story with vegetable slicers ended up with a criminal case against Olga Drozdova, responsible for the tender documentation. The Prosecutor’s Office found a price overstatement of 300,000 UAH ($8200) during the procurement.

But even before that, several cases related to budget funds were initiated against the employees of the Department of Education of the Dniprovsky District State Administration. Here are some known cases:

in 2015, articles 191 part 4 and 191 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine were invoked (Misappropriation, embezzlement, or seizure of property by abuse of official position) and article 367 part 1 (Official negligence),
in 2016, a criminal offense under article 364 part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Abuse of power or official position) was committed,
in 2017, a criminal offense under article 366 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Official forgery with grave consequences) was committed,
in 2023, criminal offenses under articles 191 part 4 (Misappropriation, embezzlement, or seizure of property by abuse of official position) and 367 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Official negligence) were committed – related to the procurement of vegetable slicers for the shelters.

The continuous spending of budget millions by the «Zmina» Art Lyceum during the full-scale war, when every conscious Ukrainian tries to support the Armed Forces, is also concerning. Therefore, we hope that law enforcement agencies will pay attention to this.