At the Government meeting on Wednesday, November 11, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that an education act is one of the essential reforms for 2016: "Without upgrading secondary education, we have reformed higher education. Thus, we have repaired the roof but the foundation remained old. Hence, now we should engage in overhaul of the basis of the Ukrainian education system which is secondary school”.

During the session Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhii Kvit presented a bill on the education reform.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk noted the importance to envisage in the act the election of school principals through open competitions. He recalled that such competition processes had been held in Kyiv, a relevant decision had been taken by Chernivtsi officials, however, this practice should be extended to the whole country.

He accentuated that the bill should provide for specific mechanisms to facilitate optimizing the network of educational institutions by local authorities: "Now the only way to convince that it is crucial to optimize the network is to show what is the best school, strong teachers and the best environment for each student. Only then parents and children will realize that it is not just an institution where they can get a piece of paper on secondary education but an educational institution that provides knowledge and an opportunity to enter a higher educational institution".

In the first stage, Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed, we should establish the so-called hub schools in each regional centre – the schools, "which could demonstrate what is a European quality of education, beginning with a school building and ending with teachers who receive a corresponding salary and have an opportunity to teach our children."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk urged Serhii Kvit to conduct meetings and consultations with all factions regarding this act. This law should be voted in Parliament in whole by the end of year, the Prime Minister summed up.