How many small schools in Ukraine will stop being funded by the state

The government has decided not to finance from the state budget the salaries of teachers who teach in schools with a small number of students (except for primary schools).

From September 1, 2025, this will apply to schools with fewer than 45 students, and from September 1, 2026, to schools with fewer than 60 children.

The Ministry of Education and Science answered “UP. Life”, how many such schools are there now in Ukraine.

According to the information that the Ministry received from the Institute of Educational Analytics of the DNU, there are:

• 468 gymnasiums with the number of students 45 or less, 1012 gymnasiums with the number of students 60 or less;
• 71 lyceums with 45 or fewer students, 193 lyceums with 60 or less students.

So, currently there are 539 schools in Ukraine that will be affected by the innovation in 2025, and 1,205 schools in 2026. Communities will continue to receive funding for the education of all children, but will not be able to spend it on small schools.

At the same time, local self-government bodies will be able to decide: to transport students from these schools to the nearest larger school or to pay for the work of teachers from local budgets.

We will remind you that since 2016, schools with less than 25 children have been no longer financed with subventions in Ukraine. Now changes are necessary for other small schools as well.

Previously, the MES explained how to be teachers and students of such institutions.