Harmful Reform

Markova, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine | Konica Minolta Dynax 5D | Industar-61L/Z 2.8/50.

Church of the Intercession (The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) is located next to our rural school. The headmistress of the school invited the pupils' parents to come by 10 am to meet with representatives of the education department.

The guests from the city announced to us that the school would be closed. Deputies of the City Council voted for this decision. Municipal authorities are in a hurry to “optimize” the network of educational institutions in accordance with the goals of the education reform in Ukraine. The people call this reform the destruction of the state education system.

There are 18 children in our primary school. From the 5th grade, they continue their studies at the second level school, which is located in a neighboring village. In the same building, there is a kindergarten where future first-graders (18 children) are being raised.

The officials assured us that, according to the norms of the new Education Act, in the next academic year there should be at least 10 students in our school. The only way out is to invite for permanent residence in our village a family with school-age children who could go to primary classes.