Denys Shmyhal outlines priorities for education reform at the Education of the New Ukraine Conference

Education is one of the key areas of state policy, and the Government has set goals and priorities to ensure a high-quality and accessible educational process. This was emphasised by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal during the conference "Education of the New Ukraine" held on 27 May in Kyiv. The event gathered the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi, as well as representatives of the Presidential Office, MPs and educators.

The first goal, according to the Head of Government, is to ensure comprehensive preparation of children for the challenges of the modern world, which means not only the transfer of knowledge, but also the development of the ability to navigate the fast-paced information environment, lifelong learning and critical thinking.

The second goal is to ensure competitiveness in the labour market, and in this context, as Denys Shmyhal emphasised, the school's mission is to identify the children's talents, motivate them to develop and improve, while vocational education and higher education is to train specialists.

"The third goal is to put children, their safety, interests and needs at the centre of all changes. First of all, we care about the safety and accessibility of education. Over the past two years, the Government has earmarked about UAH 14 billion for the repair and construction of shelters in schools," the Prime Minister said and added that 15 underground school spaces had already been built in the frontline regions and more than 180 such underground facilities were planned to be commissioned by the year's end.

Denys Shmyhal noted that currently 80% of Ukrainian schools had various types of shelters, and the Government was making every effort to increase the number of protected educational institutions.

The Prime Minister emphasised that the state continued to implement a comprehensive School Offline policy aimed at returning hundreds of thousands of children to full-time education. As part of this policy, UAH 2.8 billion has been allocated for the purchase of school buses to provide access to education for students from the most remote communities.

"We are also pursuing the reform of the New Ukrainian School. Over the past two years, we have allocated UAH 3.4 billion in subventions and almost UAH 500 million for equipment for high schools. We are bringing to life the principles of the NUS: the acquisition of key competencies by students, partnership of all participants in the educational process, motivation for teachers and inclusive education," he stressed.

Denys Shmyhal noted that thousands of Ukrainian schools were already using the Mriya platform initiated by the President as part of the digital educational ecosystem.

Another priority area of work, according to the Prime Minister, is the development of vocational education.

"The Government has allocated over UAH 1 billion for vocational schools. For us, this is a top priority in the context of Ukraine's future recovery," he highlighted.

In addition, Denys Shmyhal said that a mechanism for financing dual education was being implemented - grants from the state and communities for training at enterprises. The integration of higher education institutions into the European space is also ongoing.

Among the latest important innovations, the Prime Minister named state grants for contract students, granted to about 13,000 students.