“The educational system is currently facing several urgent challenges: the introduction of a new formula for calculating educational subventions, launch of the 1st form of the New Ukrainian School, as well as implementation of the Law “On Education” on the whole. This was stated on 23 November by Liliya Hrynevych, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, at the forum on “Decentralisation in the field of education”.

“We are introducing a new formula for allocation of educational subventions. It looks multi-storeyed and complex, but it is complicated precisely because it takes into account the peculiarities of various hromadas. After all, it is very important for us, for example, to take into account the population density for rural areas and AHs, for mountainous areas, etc. This formula will work for the first year. We understand that during the first year there may be certain issues requiring additional improvement – therefore, we will make adjustments with due account of the practical experience. Thus, the formula will be improved, and the corresponding stabilisation subsidy will be provided in the budget for the next year. If the formula does not take into account somebody’s necessary need, we will equalise this situation by this subsidy”, noted Liliya Hrynevych.

She also added that the new Law “On Education” has several core ideas.

“First of all, teacher's pedagogical freedom. Here we will have to work with teachers. It takes time for the teachers to independently develop their own programmes. Therefore, all first form teachers will pass an advanced training. Next point is the financial autonomy. This does not mean that there will be an accountant in every school. For example, you can simply form an optimal model yourself, so that one accountant serves several schools. Something that should be introduced for sure is that each director must know what is done with his/her budget and make that information public,” said the Minister.

She stressed that “it’s important to understand what shadow costs exist in education. Besides, the parents should see the enormous money hromada is investing in a school maintenance, because they do not see it right now. "

Another important innovation of the Law “On Education” is the establishment of the State Service for the Quality of Education.

“Decentralisation of resources and powers should lead to the centralisation of quality control – the trend of modern decentralised systems. With decentralisation, we can have large differences in quality, so this factor must be balanced. For this purpose, the Law envisages the establishment of the State Service for the Quality of Education, that will have regional offices on the ground, and they will be engaged in controlling the quality of educational services’ provision,” said Liliya Hrynevych.