The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has posted on its website for public discussion a draft of the Procedure for Enrollment, Deduction and Transfer of Pupils to State and Communal Educational Institutions for Complete General Secondary Education.
A working group with the participation of representatives of local authorities, school administration, and public organizations representing the interests of the parent community worked on the project of the Order.
The draft document describes the mechanisms for enrolling children in primary (grades 1-4), basic (grades 5-9) and senior (grades 10-11) schools.
In particular, the new procedure for enrolling in primary school is based on the principles of its territorial accessibility. That is, each school must accept a child who lives in the territory of its service.
This principle is enshrined in the Law "On Education". Thus, the primary right of a child from this territory to study in a state or communal school is guaranteed. But, if desired, parents can send their child to another school for free places. Determining the service area by schools belongs to the competence of local authorities.
Therefore, the concept of "competition for the first grade", which has been causing complaints from the parent community for many years, is becoming a thing of the past.
Currently, the draft of the Procedure stipulates that in order to enroll children in the 1st grade, parents must submit a package of documents specified in the Procedure by May 31. At the same time, the presence of the child during the submission of the application or in the process of its enrollment is not mandatory, cannot be demanded by the employees of the educational institution or be a condition of enrollment.
For their part, school administration and local authorities must take comprehensive measures to enroll all children from the service area, such as: opening additional classes, in particular, inclusive or special ones, or changing the organization of the educational process, in particular, introducing variability in education.
The order on the enrollment of all children in the 1st grade is issued no later than June 1 (the first, main wave of enrollment) and is published in the educational institution and on its website (and in the absence of it - on the website of the body in whose sphere of administration the institution is located education).
In the event that the number of submitted applications significantly exceeds the institution's capacity, admission will be made according to the criteria described in the Procedure. According to experts' forecasts, the number of such schools in Ukraine will not exceed 0.5%.
Parents also have the right to submit documents for the child's enrollment in other schools (not at the place of residence) for vacant places. Information about the availability of such places is posted in the institution, on its website or on the website of the relevant educational management body within three working days from the day of their appearance. Enrollment for free places takes place until June 15 (second, additional wave of enrollment).
The proposed Procedure also describes in detail the mechanisms for enrolling and transferring students to gymnasiums (grades 5-9) and lyceums (grades 10-11) and, in addition, the conditions and procedure for expelling students from secondary education institutions.
All proposals received by the Ministry during the public discussion will be carefully processed by the working group and proposed for inclusion in the draft document. Proposals and comments can be sent to the email address until March 25, 2018 v_bozhinskiy@mon.gov.ua.
