Ukraine has strengthened control measures over children who do not attend educational institutions: information will be sent to the police
The full-scale war has significantly affected children’s education in Ukraine, as many students are forced to change schools due to evacuation, study remotely, or lose regular contact with the educational process. According to officials, new changes to the child registration procedure introduced by the government are designed to ensure timely tracking of all students and ensure that no child is left out of the education system.
Government decision: changes to the child registration procedure
The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated February 25, 2026 No. 241 amended the Procedure for Maintaining Registration of Preschool and School-Age Children, Pupils, and Students, which has been in effect since 2017. The updates are aimed at strengthening control over ensuring that children are enrolled in preschool and general secondary education institutions, and that information about their stay in the education system is transmitted quickly and in a coordinated manner between responsible structures.
The approved changes were announced by Vasyl Bohdan, the head of the juvenile police of Ukraine, emphasizing that the initiative came from the juvenile prevention department and involves improving interaction between educational institutions, children’s services, and law enforcement agencies. This approach is related to the need to promptly identify cases when a child stops attending an educational institution or drops out of school without proper registration.
Bogdan notes that the changes to the procedure will provide juvenile police officers with faster access to the necessary data, improve coordination with partners, and allow them to respond in a timely manner to cases when a child stops attending an educational institution. At the same time, the main priorities of these changes are the safety of children, support for families, and ensuring equal access to education for all students.
Interdepartmental interaction in wartime
The changes to the accounting procedure provide for clear algorithms for transferring information between educational institutions, education management bodies, children’s services, and units of the National Police of Ukraine. The government believes that in situations where thousands of families are moving within the country or traveling abroad, and some children are studying remotely, the issue of timely data exchange becomes critical, since it is precisely on the speed of response that the reason for the child’s absence from school will be determined.
Prompt information about students who are not attending classes or have dropped out of the educational process should be accompanied by specific deadlines for processing information, which avoids delaying inspections. This model assumes that cases of a child dropping out of school will not remain at the level of an internal school problem, but will be considered as an issue requiring an interagency response.
Digital tools and automated systems
A special emphasis in the changes is placed on the use of digital services and automated information systems, which should ensure rapid data transfer and reduce the risk of information loss due to the human factor. In wartime, when some documentation may be lost due to the destruction or evacuation of institutions, digitalization of accounting becomes a tool for maintaining the continuity of the educational process.
The use of such systems allows juvenile police officers to more quickly obtain information about children who have fallen out of school and interact with educational institutions and children’s services. This is not only about monitoring attendance, but also about timely identification of risks related to the safety or social vulnerability of the family.
Education in wartime is accompanied by a constant change of environment, the transition between offline and online formats, staying in temporary shelters or new communities, where the child is forced to adapt to an unfamiliar team. In such a situation, the loss of contact with the school can occur unnoticed, especially if the family is experiencing a crisis or is in a state of displacement.
According to the government, the increased control over the registration of children is aimed at ensuring that every child remains in the state’s field of vision and does not lose access to education due to the chaotic circumstances of wartime. This is an attempt to maintain consistency in an area that is under constant pressure in the conditions of hostilities, and to ensure the continuity of education even when the usual rhythm of life is destroyed by war.
