Today, as noted by the Adviser on Municipal Finance and Management at the Regional Office of U-LEAD, Anatolii Matviiuk, the Programme is actively cooperating with local self-government bodies in order to improve the provision of educational services. He emphasised that ensuring the quality of education is a complex and difficult task, as it encompasses the high school reform, the introduction of the New Ukrainian School at the middle level, as well as numerous wartime challenges:
“Robust performance of the education sector relies on the coordinated actions of many actors, including local self-government bodies as founders of educational institutions, state authorities, teachers, school management, parents and, finally, children as the ultimate recipients of educational services. Therefore, it is important for us to hold events to exchange insights and discuss pain points and joint efforts. We appreciate the long-standing and fruitful cooperation with the Department of the State Service of Education Quality in the Volyn Oblast. This cooperation enabled us to host events that help municipalities improve the educational process.”
Anhelina Mocharska, Head of the State Education Quality Service in the Volyn Oblast, extended her appreciation to the Regional Office of U-LEAD for its support, underlining the importance of such measures:
“Thanks to the support of these wonderful people, we have been successfully communicating with municipalities for three years, helping them solve important issues in the education sector. Although the pandemic and the war have served a damaging blow to the educational process, we are working together to provide schoolchildren with quality services.”
The event also featured the representative of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner on Human Rights in the Volyn Oblast, Yuliia Spas, who drove home the message of respecting the rights and freedoms of all participants in the educational process. According to her, the state monitors all cases of violation of rights and responds in accordance with the law.
“We urge employees of educational institutions to follow the guidance that we provide together with the State Education Quality Service. In addition to levelling up the quality of education, communication improves the mental state of children and educators. The key is to be empathetic, act within the law and do your job responsibly,” she said.
In her speech, the head of the Department of Education and Science of the Volyn Regional State Administration, Nataliia Matviiuk, spoke about the impact of the war on education in the region. According to her, teachers have already adapted to today’s difficult conditions to ensure that students receive quality education. As she further noted, 95% of students in the oblast had access to multiple education formats, and state support helps educational institutions do their job.
“Institutions have access to subsidies as well as options to participate in various support and development projects. This allows them to address the most pressing problems and improve the quality of educational services,” said Nataliia Matviiuk.
The event spotlighted the results of monitoring studies, which showed the real situation with the Ukrainian language in the educational space of the Volyn Oblast. The event also focused on learning loss and the resilience of schools in conditions of war, as well as the evaluation of the performance of educational institutions in interaction with municipalities.
In summarising, Adviser Anatolii Matviiuk stated that such events are an important tool for uniting the efforts of all participants in the educational process:
“It was a productive meeting where we exchanged experiences, identified pain points and found joint solutions. Education is the foundation of our future, and we all have to work to make it better.”
