Abolition of gold and silver medals in schools: what graduates will receive

Instead of a certificate of complete general secondary education, persons awarded the silver medal “For Achievement in Education” and the gold medal “For High Achievement in Education” will be issued a certificate of complete general secondary education with honors in Ukraine. This was reported by the educational ombudsman of Ukraine Nadiya Leshchyk, according to UNN. 

According to her, this innovation is due to the fact that the medal award is “a relic of a bygone era that remains widespread in post-Soviet countries,” while it is not used in European countries. At the same time, the medal does not give an advantage when applying to higher education institutions, as it does not guarantee high results of external independent evaluation, which gave rise to “ambiguities in positions on giving preference to medalists when applying.

Dishonesty in schools regarding medals - for some leaders, education departments, medals are about “self-affirmation” and school authority, like “the more medals - the higher recognition” as in Soviet times

She emphasized that in some communities, the so-called “school rating” used to be calculated according to the number of medals received. At the same time, sometimes, in order to give a child the opportunity to receive a medal and the school to be “recognized,” they resorted to dishonest actions, such as unlawful correction of grades.

“Sometimes the medal candidates themselves became 'hostages' of the educational institution, as they were forced to participate in all the competitions and contests in order to win a medal,” Leshchyk summarized.

Recall

Ukraine has canceled the awarding of “gold and silver medals” to 11th grade graduates for special achievements in education. At the same time, the entry “Certificate of complete general secondary education with honors” will remain as on previous educational documents.