The head of Lviv Regional State Administration, Maksym Kozytsky, has appealed to the Government due to a shortage of personnel in the mental health sector in educational institutions.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in educational institutions of Lviv region for the 2024/2025 academic year, approximately 30% of the required 985 positions for practical psychologists remain vacant. The situation is even more critical with social pedagogues: fewer than half of the positions are filled. The main factors for this personnel deficit are uncompetitive wages in the public sector and outdated standards that create critical overload for specialists.
“I appeal to the Government, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine regarding the critical situation with the staffing of practical psychologists/social pedagogues in general secondary education institutions,” stressed the head of Lviv region.
What does the Lviv Regional State Administration propose? Reduce the workload on specialists: 1 psychologist/social pedagogue per 400 students in urban schools and 150 students in rural and settlement schools; implement a 100% salary increase for all practical psychologists and social pedagogues in educational institutions.
“Sincere thanks to my advisor, head of the working group Coordination Center at Lviv Regional State Administration Halyna Bordun, for developing the mental health sector in the Lviv region for the fourth year now and consistently advancing it. Special thanks to the working group of the Coordination Center and the Department of Education and Science of Lviv Regional State Administration for joint work on the petition to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. We await a positive decision,” he added.