In Ukraine, 2,114 schools were closed in four years, and the number of first-graders decreased by more than 122,000. If in the 2020/2021 academic year, 14,815 educational institutions were operating in the country, then in 2023/2024, only 12,701 of them remained. The majority of closures concern rural schools, which currently number 7,439, while three years ago there were 9,293.
The government has announced that in 2025 it will not finance rural schools with fewer than 45 students, and in 2026 it plans to reduce schools with fewer than 60 students. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in 2019 there were 3,900 such educational institutions in Ukraine , which will fall under these restrictions.
These initiatives may lead to the closure of many schools, as communities will not be able to finance teachers' salaries from local budgets. The children are planned to be transferred to larger, supportive educational institutions, but the question arises: how exactly will the children overcome the distance to the new schools, given the lack of proper infrastructure, in particular roads in rural areas. Problems with transport, fuel supply and the availability of verified drivers remain unresolved.
The situation with education in Ukraine is worrying. According to Oksen Lisovoy, the Minister of Education, who was at the epicenter of the scandal due to plagiarism in his thesis, the chosen government decisions do not always take into account the real needs of children and their parents. Without a comprehensive approach to reforming the education system, students, especially in rural areas, may be left without access to quality education.
