Will schoolchildren study until the end of July? Ukraine may shorten holidays and extend the school year

Parents across the country are discussing rumours of ‘summer school’ and the cancellation of holidays, but the reality is more complicated: the school schedule now depends on the situation in each specific community. Due to absences during blackouts, some schools may indeed change their schedules, but this does not mean that children will have to attend school all summer. Find out who may be affected by the changes and how much time off children will have

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Ukraine is once again discussing the possibility of extending the school year. The reason is not educational reform or experimentation, but the consequences of war and energy crises, which have prevented some regions from completing the school curriculum.

Formally, the academic year still ends on 30 June. However, in practice, each school can change its schedule depending on whether the children have completed the programme. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Nadiya Kuzmichova, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda. Zhittya.

Why was the extension of the school year discussed in the first place?

During the blackouts, schools operated under unusual conditions. Students often completed their assignments asynchronously: when the power came back on at home, they uploaded their work to the platform, and teachers checked it later.

This format allowed learning to continue, but in some communities it did not ensure full mastery of the material. Therefore, educational institutions were given the right to compensate for missed topics.

In fact, we are not talking about a new school year in the summer, but about catch-up learning — to fill in the gaps before moving on to the next grade.

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Will they study until July?

The option of continuing education is being considered, but it will not be widespread.

Schools can choose one of two options:

▪️ shorten the spring break;

▪️ continue classes in June.

Only in certain cases can learning go beyond the calendar schedule — but this is an exception, not the rule. Decisions are made by teaching councils and local education authorities.

In other words, there will be no nationwide order to ‘study all summer.’

Holidays remain mandatory

Even with the change in schedule, the state maintains a minimum standard of rest — no less than 30 calendar days of holidays during the school year.

Therefore, children will still have full summer holidays. Only their duration may change.

When will schoolchildren have a break in the spring?

The exact dates are determined by the schools themselves, but the holidays are tentatively scheduled for late March to early April. The dates already differ in different cities, which shows that a single schedule has not been used in Ukraine for a long time.

It is this flexible system that allows education to continue on a selective basis, rather than across the whole country.

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