On 18 January, the Vinnytsya Local Government Development Centre hosted a seminar attended by the representatives of amalgamated hromadas of the Vinnytsya Oblast and devoted to the modelling of the educational network in AHs.

“In November 2017 we established a hub school based on the Dashiv general secondary school of the 1^st-3^rd degrees, comprising Dashiv general secondary school of the 1^st-2^nd degrees and three rural hromada schools. Optimisation of the educational process encompassed 620 pupils, children acquire high-quality knowledge, transportation of pupils is organised, though now we have some legal questions, thus expert advice on legislative provision of transfer of educational institutions to the hromada’s ownership, as well as funding of the educational industry, are appropriate and useful,” explained Oleksandr Kulkov, principal of the Dashiv general secondary school of the 1^st-3^rd degrees.

In the course of the meeting, the LGDC experts familiarised AH representatives with the models of the educational districts and methods of a hub school establishment, and Olena Lesina, head of the primary education department of the Vinnytsya Academy of Continuing Education, presented the concept of a New Ukrainian School and pilot projects in the sphere of education being implemented in the Vinnytsya Oblast.

“In September 2017, we created an educational district, rejected elimination of small schools, established a hub school instead and organised the transportation of children by comfortable transport not only to the place of study, but also to the Youth Centre, where they attend interest clubs 3-4 times a week,” told Valeriy Nemyrovskyi, head of the educational department of the Tomashpilska AH.

According to Inna Svyatna, LGDC expert in budgetary issues, since 2018 a new educational subvention aimed at stimulating the optimisation of the educational sector has been introduced and should be used by hromadas as it enables the creation of a high-quality educational network on the ground.

At the end of the meeting, the seminar participants shared the experience of education reforming in hromadas and received consultations from the experts of the Vinnytsya Local Government Development Centre, working with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.