The draft law "About General Secondary Education", which complements the Law "On Education" and provides real mechanisms for the implementation of the reform A New Ukrainian School for pupils, teachers, parents and educational managers, was submitted by the Government for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a corresponding decision, March 13, 2019.

"A school reform is a long-distance running. Hence, it is extremely important that the ideas and architecture of the educational reform, the mechanisms that create new, aligned with time opportunities for our children, be clearly defined and enshrined as a strategic priority of the state for years to come, in particular at the level of law. In 2017, the Parliament passed the Law "On Education", which became the foundation of educational reform. Due to its adoption, as well as the active work of the entire Cabinet of Ministers, on September 1, 2018, our first-graders came to study at the New Ukrainian School with well trained teachers, in the new education content programs, in the New Educational Space. But the foundation is not enough to complete the building, we also need mechanisms to enable the realization of ideas. And such supporting framework for the reform is aimed to become the draft law " About General Secondary Education" being presented today", said Minister of Education and Science Lilia Hrynevych, getting familiarized the attendees with the document at a Government session.

In particular, she spoke about the main innovations of the bill, grouping them into blocks: innovations that create new opportunities for students, innovations for teachers, parents and educational managers.

Namely, the document offers the pupils a realistic mechanism for determining their own educational trajectory.

"For pupils with special educational needs, the construction of such a trajectory is an opportunity for successful integration into the life of a regular school. For children who are seriously studying outside the school, for example, go in for sports or music school - this is an opportunity to credit knowledge that wasn’t obtained in the institution, and release time for homework or other work. For students who undergo homeschooling, this mechanism will allow them to easily and securely credit their academic achievements and get a document about general secondary education", the Minister explained.

The development of the New Educational Space is also foreseen. The project determines that Multimedia libraries and resource rooms that have proved to be highly effective both for teaching children with special educational needs and for other children should become the standard for schools in the near future.

"Children staying on prolonged inpatient treatment, due to the adoption of this document, will eventually get the right, protected by law, to acquire education in medical institutions. Their right to education should be fixed at the level of law, so that we never have experienced the situation when our abandoned and forgotten by everyone children live in hospitals for years", the Minister noted.

2 adaptation cycles - 1-2 grades and 5-6 grades, which are also provided for in the bill, will allow for additional support to children in the most vulnerable periods of school life.

Moreover, the Ministry and the Government never forget their commitments to children who study in schools with ethnic minority languages teaching.

"Our goal is to ensure these children fully master both the official language and their native language. After numerous consultations, approvals and negotiations in the bill "About General Secondary Education" we propose exactly the model that was shaped and made public on the results of consultations on the Law "On Education", Lilia Hrynevych emphasized.

The document also provides for additional payments for teachers, in particular 10 to 20% of the salary for managing the resource rooms, computer rooms and sports halls.

In addition to that benefit they will have a chance to receive additional surcharges, which under the law will be able to establish the founder of the institution.

Another innovation for teachers is the introduction of pedagogical internship.

"Just as we create a new friendly educational environment for children, we are trying to create support and care environment for the teacher. Pedagogical internship shall envisage that a young teacher having come to work to the institution will consult, guide, and take care of his well-being and development. In this case, the mentor will receive a 20% surcharge to the wage for such supervision and will personally be interested in the success of the young teacher", explained Lilia Hrynevych.

The first and most important thing that this project offers parents is a safe environment for their children.

As you can see, this bill appears not abstract concepts, but real mechanisms for the development of opportunities and talents of every Ukrainian child. Unlocking the potential of our teachers and educational managers. Peace of mind and cooperation for the parents of our schoolchildren", summed up Lilia Hrynevych.