Ukraine, together with the EU countries, will conduct an audit of the education of Ukrainian children abroad

The higher audit bodies of Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have joined forces to conduct an international audit related to the education of Ukrainian children in Europe. This audit will be aimed at studying children’s access to education, preserving national identity and solving integration problems.

This initiative was officially supported at the meeting on July 30-31, which was organized by the President of the Supreme Chamber of Control of the Republic of Poland Marian Banas. The event was attended by representatives of audit bodies of several European countries, and the Ukrainian delegation was led by the Head of the Accounting Chamber, Olga Pishchanska.

During the meeting, Olha Pishchanska emphasized that the priority for Ukraine is the well-being of Ukrainian children abroad. She noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, more than 2 million children have left Ukraine. According to the educational ombudsman, about 800,000 Ukrainian children began studying in EU schools in 2022-2023. However, there is still no accurate data on the number of children who do not have access to education.

Olha Pishchanska stressed that it is strategically important to ensure the preservation of the connection of Ukrainian families with the Motherland so that they return after the victory of Ukraine. This is possible only by providing children with quality and continuous access to the Ukrainian education system, which will support their national identity. It is also important to understand how many children receive education abroad, how high-quality and effective this education is, as well as to identify the problems faced by children who do not study.

The main issues of the audit in European countries will be:

• ensuring access to school education for Ukrainian children in European countries;
• the possibility of continuing education in Ukrainian schools abroad without losing national identity;
• problems faced by Ukrainian children in the schools of host countries;
• availability of data from European governments on the number of Ukrainian students and the amount of allocated resources for their education.

At the same time, the audit of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine will focus on:

• provision by the Ministry of Education of the opportunity for Ukrainian children who are in European countries to continue obtaining general secondary education in Ukrainian schools;
• access of Ukrainian children to study in Ukrainian schools abroad;
• introduction by the Ministry of Education of electronic educational resources for distance learning of Ukrainian children who are abroad;
• adaptation of the general secondary education system of Ukraine for the return of students from European countries.

The long war became a difficult test for Ukrainian families and the education system. But even in these difficult conditions, Ukraine must take care of the well-being of its children and help them maintain a connection with their native country.

We will remind that Ukraine plans to sign an intergovernmental agreement with Poland to resolve issues related to the education of Ukrainian children in Polish schools, including the recognition of Ukrainian educational centers.