The day before, there was a meeting of the Board of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, which was attended by the head of the Public Council Halyna Usatenko, deputy Yevhen Kudryavets, head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Science and Education Liliya Hrynevych and members of the Board.
During the discussion, the head of the specialized parliamentary committee spoke about the main aspects of the draft Law of Ukraine "On Education". Emphasizing the outdated, post-Soviet education system, she noted that now is the best time to introduce valuable changes.
"Our education system does not correspond to the demographic situation. The student/teacher ratio in Ukraine now averages eight students to one teacher. For comparison, in Europe, there are 14 to 18 students per teacher," the head of the VRU Committee on Science and Education emphasized.
According to Liliya Hrynevych, such a ratio exists in Ukraine at the expense of small rural schools. The second category is privileged schools, namely with in-depth study of foreign languages, gymnasiums, lyceums. So, according to the head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Science and Education, the state even with its funding creates inequalities.
"To understand the depth of this phenomenon, you can look at the analysis of external independent evaluation. Children from the village are five times less likely to enter a higher education institution on the budget. If there is an English language exam, the chances are ten times less," said Lilia Hrynevych.
One of the priority issues was provision of places in preschool educational institutions. As Lilia Hrynevych pointed out, there is a tendency to reduce the time for compulsory preschool throughout the world. Great Britain has already introduced compulsory education from the age of three in the preschool system.
"In Kyiv alone, there are 140 children for 100 places in kindergartens. New mechanisms for solving the problem are needed. Namely, to provide an opportunity for the development of private initiative. The whole world solves the problem of preschool in this way. These are small kindergartens that help in the employment of young women with children, their employment when they can leave their child in the kindergarten," emphasized Liliya Hrynevych.
According to the head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Science and Education, the current requirements for communal kindergartens, which are absolutely "impossible" for a private kindergarten, lead to closing the way for private initiative. Those private kindergartens that were able to create and establish a working structure are very expensive and cannot be used by ordinary citizens, which is why the solution to this problem should be provided for in the new Law of Ukraine "On Education".
Also, the members of the Board of the Public Council at the Ministry of Education and Culture considered the issue of approving the work plan for the IV quarter of 2014, namely the creation of temporary working groups, the organization of the next meeting of the Public Council, and others.
According to the material: MES of Ukraine
