Verdict on rural education: hundreds of schools in Ukraine remain without funding
14 September 2025 18:45
OPINION
On September 1, 2025, almost 600 rural schools in Ukraine with less than 45 students stopped receiving state subsidies. Next year, a similar decision will apply to institutions with less than 60 students. Ihor Likarchuk, former director of the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment, called the decision “a verdict for rural schools,” reports
In his post, Ihor Likarchuk emphasized that the educational policy on small schools over the past decades has actually been reduced to a gradual curtailment of their activities.
Mr. Likarchuk reminded that
the first stage of “optimization” began in 2003 with the School Bus program;
in 2008-2015, after the start of the External Independent Testing, there were conclusions about the lower results of rural school graduates;
in 2015, the introduction of the educational subvention formula made it more difficult to finance small schools;
in 2016, the development of the school network was transferred to communities as part of decentralization, which also contributed to the reduction of institutions.
According to him, no state programs to modernize or support small schools have been implemented. Instead, decisions to close them were made based on economic or political factors.
“Over the past twenty-five years, there has been no substantiated evidence that rural schools do not provide adequate quality education. Instead, information noise has been spreading about its “unviability,”” wrote Likarchuk.
He also noted that the massive reduction of the network is part of an agreement with the World Bank, which has set minimum thresholds for class size as a condition for funding.
Mr. Likarchuk also emphasized the cultural significance of rural schools:
“The village school has historically been and remains a center of cultural memory, traditions and linguistic identity of the community. Its destruction means the destruction of the socio-cultural core of the village,” the expert said.
As reported by
