The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine announced changes in the curriculum for grades 10-11, which caused heated discussions among educators, parents and students. According to the new draft plan, subjects such as chemistry, physics, biology and other sciences will be excluded from the compulsory curriculum. They will become available only to those students who choose them as a specialization. For other students, the number of hours to study these subjects will be significantly reduced.
Thus, instead of 8.5 hours a week, students will study 18 hours according to the variable component of the curriculum. When choosing an invariant, instead of 29 hours, they will have 20 hours a week. The MES believes that this project should help schools optimize the plan of the academic year.
Instead of the two subjects "Algebra" and "Geometry", schoolchildren will receive the course "Mathematics", the teaching of which will be reduced from five to three hours a week. Chemistry, physics, geography and biology will be combined in the course "Man and nature". Three hours a week will be allocated for it.
The course "Literature", which includes Ukrainian and foreign literature, will take two hours a week, as well as "History" (World and Ukrainian). Physical culture will take not two, but three hours a week.
What subjects can disappear in schools
The main idea is for children to know the basics of each subject, but to study in more depth the ones they want to emphasize.
The Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, said that all basic science and humanitarian disciplines will remain at the school. He assured that the key subjects will be preserved, but it is necessary to optimize the program – for example, to present the basics of health in a more concentrated manner. Some courses can be sacrificed, but it is important to take into account the capabilities of the child.
"All key disciplines, both natural and humanitarian, must be preserved. They should be concentrated, but provided in such a way as to take into account the child's ability to learn the entire array of knowledge," said the head of the Ministry of Education and Culture during the telethon.
