The Ministry of Education and Science announced the need for textbooks for grades 1 and 5: why schools will receive new books only in 2028
Children’s education during wartime takes place in conditions where, in addition to air raids, distance learning, moving, and the loss of the usual school rhythm, there are problems with educational materials. In such a situation, the textbook remains a basic tool for the student, teacher, and parents. However, the preparation of new textbooks for the first and fifth grades is moving to a longer cycle so that they have time to undergo a full-fledged check in schools before mass printing.
MES launches preparation of new textbooks
As reported by the Ministry of Education and Science, there is a need for textbooks for the first and fifth grades. This opens the first stage of the updated procedure for their creation. However, the new books should arrive in schools in the first half of 2028, after a full cycle of development, testing, examination, competitive selection, printing and delivery.
At the starting stage, a list of subjects and integrated courses for which textbooks will be prepared is determined. After that, author teams and publishing houses will join the work, which will develop textbooks taking into account the updated educational requirements.
Textbooks for the first and fifth grades will be created for the first time in a two-year cycle. Previously, the entire process was completed in one year, which is why testing was limited in time and took place simultaneously with other stages of preparation.
The updated approach involves testing the books in the real educational process during the full academic year. Teachers and students will use the materials, after which the authors will receive feedback, make changes and submit the revised textbooks for examination.
This procedure should reduce the risk of poorly tested materials, as the book will be tested in the classroom before being printed for the entire country.
What will the textbook preparation schedule look like
After the need is announced, the development of textbooks for specific subjects and courses begins. By the end of August 2026, textbooks should receive the stamp “Approved for use in the educational process during testing”.
Testing in schools will start in September 2026, and will continue throughout the academic year. In 2027, the author teams will finalize the materials taking into account the comments, after which an examination and competitive selection will take place.
In early 2028, printing, translation into national minority languages, as well as adaptation of books in enlarged and raised-dot font are planned. In the first half of 2028, textbooks should be delivered to educational institutions.
What will change for first-graders
Textbooks for the first grade will be created according to the updated State Standard of Primary Education and the Typical Educational Program. Children will begin studying under the revised program in 2028, and it will be the same for the entire country.
The updated Typical Educational Program for Grades 1–4 provides more flexibility for schools and teachers. Educational institutions will be able to combine different approaches to learning, change the organization of lessons according to the needs of children, and use reserve hours of teaching time.
A separate innovation will be model educational programs. Each textbook will correspond to a separate program, which the authors will develop together with the educational material so that the content of the book is consistent with the logic of teaching.
What will textbooks for the fifth grade be like?
Textbooks for the fifth grade will be prepared based on the State Standard of Basic Secondary Education, the Standard Educational Program, and the concepts of educational branches created within the framework of the “Education for Life” policy.
These concepts determine the sequence of learning, expected results, connections between subjects, and approaches to the formation of competencies. The content of textbooks must take into account the practical application of knowledge so that educational materials meet the requirements of basic secondary education.
Previous experience with textbooks has shown that high-quality preparation of materials loses its importance if books reach students late. In 2025, Ukraine implemented a new delivery mechanism that was supposed to solve the problem of delays, but as of September 15, schoolchildren did not receive all the planned books: almost every fifth one was missing.
The Ministry of Education and Science fined 12 publishing houses for violating delivery deadlines. The total amount of fines reached almost 2 million hryvnias.
According to the Ministry of Education, the updated two-year cycle of textbook preparation should provide more time for testing, finalization, printing and logistics. For schools operating under the pressure of wartime circumstances, the timely appearance of quality books in classrooms will be of practical importance, because the educational process depends not only on the program, but also on whether the child has the necessary material in front of him.
