Some lyceums have already been established. The Department of Education is currently working on approving the profiles of academic lyceums.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine approved a pilot project to create such networks in 9 regions: Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, and Chernihiv.
This was reported by the Department of Education and Science of the Lviv Regional State Administration.
By September 1 of this year, the regions have to approve plans for educational institution networks.
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We would like to remind you that according to the Law “On Complete General Secondary Education”, preparations for the school education reform should be completed in September 2027, by which time a network of academic and professional lyceums will be created.
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School education will be divided into three levels: primary (1-4 years of study, primary school), basic (5-9 years of study, gymnasium), and senior specialized school (10-12 years of study, specialized lyceums).
There should be at least two classes with at least three profiles of study in the 10-12th grade parallels. Thus, on March 5, the Department of Science and Education of the Lviv Regional State Administration held a working meeting on the progress of the specialized education reform.
“Now the Ministry of Education and Science is actively working on implementing the reform of specialized high school. Lviv region has already passed a part of this path two years ago, when we formed a list of educational institutions on the basis of which academic lyceums will be established. At the same time, we are working on the formation of a network of vocational education institutions, which is an important component of the profiling of high school,” said Oleh Paska, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Lviv Regional State Administration.
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Today, in Lviv region, the high school reform is at the stage of discussing profiles for lyceums (mathematics, physical, legal, humanitarian…). Their final list is being formed.
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Oleh Paska: “This is an extremely important issue. If we entrust the task of determining profiles solely to parents and students, then without proper information and career guidance work with them aimed at forming a strategic vision, it may happen that we will lose entire promising areas in science. There will simply be no one to replenish scientific schools that have world-class achievements. This will be a disaster for the country. That is why today we want to analyze in detail the need of higher education institutions for gifted students, the identification and training of which is one of the tasks of high school profiling.”
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“The fate of our region and the country as a whole in 5-10 years really depends on this reform. And we hope that the Ministry of Education will support our position that the profiles of lyceums should be approved by education departments, taking into account the importance of this issue. And secondly, academic specialized lyceums should be managed at the regional level, and the reform should start so that the best teachers teach specialized subjects in these lyceums,” said Oleh Paska.
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At the same time, he emphasized the importance of the second component of the educational reform – vocational education. “The essence of the high school reform is that a 9th grade graduate has to make a choice – an academic lyceum or vocational education. Therefore, it is important for us to clearly understand the future needs of regional economies, and this is a complex work that should also involve higher education institutions, the Department of Economy, business, and communities.”
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Thus, the director of the department said that when the network of lyceums is finally approved and their profiles are determined, this information will be submitted for discussion to the Expert Council operating under the Department of Education and Science. The process of final approval with all stakeholders will also take place.
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The region has been working with communities for two years now, and most of them have a full understanding of the essence of the specialized education reform. Demographics is the determining factor here. There cannot be two lyceums in a community where there are 60 children in the 6th grade today, because this means that in 2027 there will be at most the same number of children in the 10th grade, provided that none of them go to vocational lyceums or colleges, which is unlikely. (Recall that there should be at least two classes of 60 students in the 10th-12th grade parallels.
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“We will continue to persuade. Otherwise, there will be no lyceum. We hope that common sense will prevail over populism,” emphasized Oleh Paska.
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For reference:
In Lviv region, a projected network of lyceums was approved in 2022: 100 lyceums, 14 of which will be level III lyceums, which will ensure the profiling of education, 15 lyceums of level II-III and 68 lyceums, which will include a primary school and will be located mainly in rural areas.