Academic year 2025-2026: how will education be conducted and when to expect holidays
Kyiv • UNN
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has canceled order No. 1112 on distance learning, but its provisions will be integrated into other documents. The 2025-2026 academic year will begin on September 1, with holidays expected from late October.
On September 1, a new academic year will begin in Ukraine. UNN reports on how schooling will be conducted amidst the ongoing war, and when students will have the opportunity to enjoy holidays.
How will learning proceed?
The Ministry of Education and Science announced the cancellation of Order No. 1112, which defined norms for distance learning. At the same time, the ministry assured that its key provisions would be preserved and taken into account in other regulatory documents before the start of the academic year.
The decision to cancel Order No. 1112 was made based on agreements between the Ministry of Education and Science and frontline regions due to the difficult security situation. However, the main ideas of the document will be integrated into other acts by September 1, 2025.
In the new year, the format of education will be regulated depending on circumstances. In frontline areas, education will be conducted remotely; in temporarily occupied territories, through pedagogical patronage with individual lessons; abroad, with a Ukrainian component and a simplified program; and in safe regions, in-person.
Each individual school independently determines which format to implement. However, the Ministry of Education and Science does not recommend combining in-person and distance learning in the same class.
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Return to in-person learning
The Ministry of Education and Science has named the criteria necessary for returning to in-person education:
· availability of a shelter in the school or within 500 meters of it;
· material and technical support sufficient to organize blended learning;
· for the regions: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv (excluding temporarily occupied territories) — a decision by the regional defense council or an order from the head of the Regional Military Administration, a decision by the pedagogical council regarding the return of students to in-person learning.
How distance classes will learn
According to the decision of the Ministry of Education and Science, distance learning will be carried out as follows:
· for students in Ukraine — according to the full educational program;
· for students abroad — learning according to a reduced educational program: Ukrainian studies component and re-crediting of grades from other subjects studied in schools abroad.
Distance classes with a Ukrainian studies component represent an additional workload for teachers, which is included in the formula for calculating the educational subvention. If a student does not attend school abroad, they continue their education in a distance class in Ukraine according to the full program, family form, or external studies.
Education of displaced children at their place of residence
Children who were displaced as a result of Russian aggression will attend in-person schools at their actual place of residence starting from September 1, 2025.
At the same time, internally displaced children have the opportunity to study in their distance classes during the 2025-2026 academic year, even if there are places in schools with in-person learning at their place of residence.
During this academic year, the Ministry of Education and Science, together with international development partners, will conduct an advocacy campaign aimed at increasing the proportion of families who will start studying in in-person schools from September 1, 2025.
How students in TOT will learn
Schoolchildren residing in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine will have the opportunity to continue studying in distance classes, if the security situation allows. The assessment of the security situation will be made by teachers and the child's parents.
In addition, students in the TOT can switch to an individual form of education (pedagogical patronage) using distance technologies. The Ministry of Education and Science will provide recommendations for working under pedagogical patronage and an example of an individual schedule.
Autumn holidays 2025 in Ukraine
Autumn holidays start on October 27. They will last until November 2, 2025. Taking into account the two days off preceding the start of the autumn holidays, children will have a total of nine days to rest.
Winter holidays of the 2025-2026 academic year
Winter holidays will begin on December 27, 2025, and will continue until January 11, 2026. Thus, in winter, schoolchildren will have 16 days of rest, including the weekends preceding the start of the holidays.
Spring holidays 2026 in Ukraine
Spring holidays will begin on March 23 and last until March 29, 2026. Taking into account the two days off preceding the start of the holidays, children will have a total of nine days to rest.
Summer holidays 2026 in Ukraine
The 2025-2026 academic year is tentatively scheduled to end on May 29, 2026. Summer holidays will traditionally last three months — until August 31, 2026.
It should be noted that educational institutions can independently determine the start dates and duration of holidays, taking into account the security situation in each specific region. In this regard, the dates of holidays provided above are approximate.