New School Absence Reporting Rules: What Parents Need to Know

Criticism of Stricter School Absence Monitoring

According to Главком: Ihor Likarchuk, the former director of the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment, has criticized a new government policy that intensifies the tracking of school absences. The Cabinet of Ministers has mandated that educational authorities must now immediately report data on children who are not attending school to child welfare services. These services have been granted expanded powers, which include maintaining records, taking measures to return children to education, and assisting with document processing. This policy shift comes amid ongoing efforts to ensure educational continuity during a period of national challenge.

'From now on, monitoring of those who are just warming the benches will be significantly tightened. As will the oversight of schools themselves. Schools are becoming an element of rapid response. The principal is turning into a data transmitter. This is no longer about educational quality or pedagogy. This is something entirely different.' Ihor Likarchuk

Likarchuk also noted that the government is primarily increasing the responsibility of educational institutions, while not mentioning the parents, who, in his words, 'are responsible for raising children.' He emphasized that 'parental responsibility is merely declarative.'

First-Grade Admissions Process Underway

Meanwhile, in Kyiv, the process of accepting documents for first-grade enrollment for the 2026/2027 academic year is ongoing, having started on April 1. Parents can submit applications until June 1, inclusive. The priorities for priority enrollment to a school in Kyiv are:

• the family residing within the school's service area,
• the presence of siblings already attending the school,
• children of the school's employees and graduates of its preschool unit.

Currently, nearly 264,000 students are enrolled in Kyiv's schools, of which 18,400 are first-graders.

Likarchuk's comments highlight growing concerns about the evolving role of schools within the education system and the responsibility of parents for their children's schooling. The stricter monitoring rules could significantly impact the educational process and the interaction between schools and families. At the same time, the ongoing first-grade admissions demonstrate the continuation of core educational processes, despite the new challenges facing Ukraine's education system.