The Ministry of Education and Science supports the draft law "On Education", finalized by the working group of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Science and Education for its submission to the parliament for a repeated first reading. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Pavlo Khobzei, at an extended meeting of the specialized Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to discuss the draft law of Ukraine "On Education" (repeated first reading, reg. No. 3491 dated 28.12.2015) on March 30, 2016.
According to Pavel Hobzei, the basic draft law in its revised version makes it possible to start joint work on school reform without waiting for a special law "On general secondary education". "With this draft law, we can start building a new Ukrainian school, with a new culture, with new approaches," the deputy minister emphasized.
Pavlo Khobzei noted that the government proposes to start school reform in 2018 from the 1st grade. The Ministry of Education and Science also insists that the changes in the upper school begin on September 1, 2018. This position is explained by several reasons. The first is that students who are studying in the 7th grade today will finish the 9th grade in 2018. At this time, new programs and textbooks will have to be developed for them if they continue to study under the old system. And this does not provide an opportunity to postpone the beginning of the reform of the high school until a later time, because the textbooks must be changed only after 5 years. But the main reason for the beginning of changes is that society is really waiting for them. "Parents are most interested in changes in elementary school, when the child's socialization takes place, as well as in high school. That's when the question arises of what further career or educational trajectories their children will have," explained Pavlo Khobzei.
The deputy minister is convinced that it is necessary to start preparing the network of schools for changes now. There is an understanding in society that high school should be specialized. At the same time, it is impossible to do specialized education if there are only two classes in parallel. "Children should be given the right to choose several profiles, and this can be ensured only when there is a sufficient number of students in one parallel, where different groups can be formed," added Pavlo Khobzei.
At the same time, a specialized school will make it possible to get rid of such a phenomenon as tutoring, which is a forced step by parents in order to make up the number of hours from the required student of the subject. In addition, vocational and technical education will be involved in the specialized school, and this will be a safeguard against the current state of this field.
At the extended meeting of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Science and Education, a decision was made to present the revised draft law "On Education" for consideration in the repeated first reading with a proposal for a separate law on higher specialized education.
