Members of Parliament allowed upper-grade students to complete their education at their schools even after their status changes. The decision concerns students studying under the two-year upper-secondary school program and is intended to ensure continuity of the educational process during the implementation of the specialized upper-secondary education reform. UNN reports this, citing the Verkhovna Rada and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Details
On Thursday, October 29, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading and as a whole Draft Law No. 15082-d, which introduces amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Complete General Secondary Education.” A total of 265 Members of Parliament voted in favor of the decision. The document stipulates that students who are obtaining specialized upper-secondary education within the two-year upper-secondary school program in the 2026/2027 academic year will be able to complete their studies at the same institution to which they were admitted or transferred.
This primarily concerns current tenth-graders who are studying under the 2011 State Standard. They will have the opportunity to complete the 11th grade at their school and receive a certificate of complete general secondary education, even if the institution changes its type and becomes a gymnasium by that time. In particular, if a school is reorganized from a lyceum into a gymnasium, students will be allowed to continue studying under the existing two-year program until its completion.
If the educational institution is merged with another one, students will be able to complete their studies at the institution that becomes its legal successor.
How the new mechanism will work
To implement the provisions of the law, its authors provided for a temporary simplification of the licensing procedure for general secondary education institutions. This concerns schools that, as part of the reform, are being reorganized or reprofiled as gymnasiums, but in which upper-grade students continue to study under the two-year program.
According to the Ministry of Education and Science, such institutions will be able to obtain or reissue a license to conduct educational activities at the specialized upper-secondary education level under a simplified procedure. To do so, the institution’s administration must submit a relevant application to the licensing authority. The authorized body must issue or reissue the license within 10 business days without carrying out the standard licensing procedure.
At the same time, the law provides a mechanism to prevent delays in this process. If a decision is not made within the specified period, the license will be considered issued or reissued automatically. The validity of such documents will be limited until the end of the 2027/2028 academic year.
Why it became necessary to adopt the law
The need for legislative changes is linked to the upper-secondary school reform, which envisages Ukraine’s transition to a 12-year system of general secondary education. Under the new model, students will obtain specialized upper-secondary education in grades 10–12 at academic or vocational lyceums. At the same time, gymnasiums will provide basic secondary education, meaning education primarily in grades 5–9.
To implement the reform, communities are gradually forming a new network of educational institutions, determining which schools will operate as lyceums and which will become gymnasiums.
However, this transition created a problem for students who had already begun studying under the old two-year program. In particular, after a school’s status changed, its ability to continue educating students in grades 10–11 could be restricted. As a result, some upper-grade students faced the prospect of transferring to another educational institution just one year before receiving their certificate of complete general secondary education.
Back in September, Member of Parliament Iryna Borzova drew attention to this problem, noting that thousands of parents, children, and teachers were awaiting a decision that would allow current tenth-graders to complete their studies at their schools. The relevant parliamentary committee considered the legislative initiatives and prepared a revised Draft Law No. 15082-d, which was supported by lawmakers.
Will the decision affect the transition to 12-year education?
The Ministry of Education and Science emphasizes that the adoption of the law does not change the timelines for implementing the specialized upper-secondary education reform.
Therefore, from September 1, 2027, new tenth-graders studying under the New Ukrainian School program will have to switch to a three-year model of specialized secondary education. It provides for education in grades 10, 11, and 12, with the opportunity to choose a specialization and study individual subjects in greater depth in accordance with their educational interests.
At the same time, students who are already studying under the two-year program will be able to complete it without switching to the new model.
The Ministry of Education and Science also clarified separately that lyceums participating in the pilot implementation of the specialized secondary education reform from September 1, 2026, will continue to operate in the format in which they began the academic year.
Context
The reform of upper secondary school is one of the stages in implementing the New Ukrainian School. It provides for the separation of basic and specialized secondary education, the creation of a network of academic lyceums, and a gradual transition to three-year education in the upper grades.
From September 2027, the new model is expected to be launched for students entering the tenth grade. The first mass graduation of twelfth-graders under this system is expected in 2030.
Reminder
Earlier, the Ministry of Education explained what exactly the reform of upper secondary school changes.