The Cabinet of Ministers approved the Concept of implementation of state policy in the field of secondary education reform "New Ukrainian School".

The corresponding decision was made at the meeting on Wednesday.

At the meeting, the Minister of Education and Science Liliya Hrynevych noted that currently only 10% parents are satisfied with the state of the current school, as well as 15% teachers, 8% school directors.

"At the same time, we have a very complex situation on the labor market, when we have a population of actually working age of just over 16 million people and the employment rate is 56%," the Minister added. This is due to the low-quality education provided by the modern school.

According to the concept of the new Ukrainian school, the transition to 12-year education and the start of the new Ukrainian school are expected already in the 2018-2019 academic year.

The concept involves the transition from a school of knowledge to a school of competences.

"This does not mean that knowledge will disappear at school. Knowledge is now accumulating at a dramatic speed - children no longer go to school for knowledge, for this there is the Internet, a lot of different resources. They must be taught how to use this knowledge, classify it, how to distinguish good from evil, and how to find the knowledge you need to solve an individual life situation or professional challenge," added Hrynevych.

The concept specifies 10 competencies: communication in the state (and native, if different) languages, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competence, basic competences in natural sciences and technologies, information and digital competence and the ability to learn throughout life.

And also initiative and entrepreneurship, social and public competence, awareness and self-expression in the field of culture, environmental literacy and healthy living.

"We can build a society only through a society of educated people. Because very often these 5-10% leave the country, develop the economy and become qualified personnel, those people who are in society as a whole. Therefore, we need to provide the opportunity for quality education for everyone," said the Minister.

"And it is already on the surface. This is the deterioration of the competitiveness of our education, the preservation of the tendency to decrease the quality of all types of education, because secondary education covers the largest number of people, the decrease in the quality of human capital, and the loss of the scientific and technical potential of the state," the Minister said.