Current Ninth-Graders Are Not Moving to 12-Year Schooling: How the State Should Allow Them to Finish Their Studies in Their Own Schools
Current students of 9th grades should not automatically fall under the senior school reform and should not study longer. They are completing full general secondary education under the current standard, in the usual 11-year system, and are expected to finish school in 2028. This has become the main explanation from the Ministry of Education after a wave of concern among parents, teachers and communities. The confusion did not arise because children are suddenly being transferred to 12 years of schooling. The problem is different some communities have already begun changing the network of educational institutions. Schools that previously had 10th and 11th grades are gradually being turned into gymnasiums, while senior school is to be concentrated in academic lyceums. Because of this, some current ninth-graders were told that after 9th grade they must move to another institution. For parents, this sounded like a sudden change in the rules at a moment when their children had almost completed basic school. This is perceived especially sharply during wartime, when the road to another institution can mean not only inconvenience, but also additional risks for the family. Member of parliament Danylo Hetmantsev explained that teachers and parents are increasingly turning to him because of uncertainty over admission to 10th grades.
“Effectively, this means that students who planned to continue studying at their school are forced to look for other institutions sometimes dozens of kilometers away from home. In wartime, this creates additional risks and inconvenience for families.”
That is why legislative initiatives have appeared in the Verkhovna Rada that should give current ninth-graders the opportunity to complete their studies in their own schools, if those schools still actually have 10th and 11th grades. This is about a transitional decision for those communities where the reorganization of institutions has already created a gap between formal rules and the real lives of children.
Hetmantsev stressed that reform should not break the normal educational path of students who have already started studying under the previous system.
“Reforms cannot put at risk children’s right to normally complete their education.”
The position of the Ministry of Education is also important in this part: current ninth-graders are not moving to the new three-year senior school standard. They do not belong to the generation that studied under the standards of the New Ukrainian School from the first grade. Therefore, their path is 10th and 11th grades under the old standard educational program, not the new three-year senior school.
Deputy Minister of Education Nadiia Kuzmychova directly explained that current 9th grades are not automatically included in the reform.
“The ninth grade is not entering the reform, except in cases where it is a voluntary decision of parents and they join pilot institutions. All the rest of the children are not moving to three-year schooling.”
This is a key clarification for parents. If a child is currently in 9th grade, they will not be forced to study for 12 years only because of the senior school reform. An exception is possible only when the family voluntarily chooses a pilot institution and consciously joins the new format.
Separately, Kuzmychova emphasized that even in the event of moving to another institution, the educational program for these children does not change.
“They study under the old standard, under the old standard educational program. This issue does not affect where they complete their studies.”
So the main question now is not the duration of schooling and not a change in the program, but the place where the child will complete 10th and 11th grades. This is where the conflict arose between the reform of the network of institutions and the expectations of families.
According to the current logic of the reform, after 9th grade students are supposed to move to academic lyceums. But not all communities explained this to parents in time and clearly. In some settlements, the situation looks especially painful 10th and 11th grades of older cohorts are still studying at the school, but current ninth-graders are already being told to move to another institution.
Nadiia Kuzmychova acknowledged that in some communities this created tension because of delays in reorganization and weak communication.
“In some communities, this causes certain problems. In other words, the reorganization of institutions has not yet been carried out, communities began communicating with parents late, or parents began hearing late what they were trying to tell them. And as a result, this gap appeared, when parents of ninth-graders in a number of communities supposedly learned about this for the first time only in 2026, that they have to move to another class from September.”
This is precisely why a transitional mechanism is needed. Its logic is simple: if a child studied at a school under the old standard, and the institution still has 10th and 11th grades, the state should allow them to calmly complete their studies where they actually studied. This does not stop the senior school reform for future generations, but protects children who found themselves between the old and new systems.
Educational ombudsman Nadiia Leshchyk also supports the reform of the New Ukrainian School, but recognizes a separate problem specifically for current 9th grades. She drew attention to the fact that these children did not study under NUS standards, so they cannot be mechanically included in the new model.
“Ukraine is at the final important stage of the New Ukrainian School reform… I believe that postponing the reform will have negative consequences for the state.”
At the same time, she separately emphasized the right of current ninth-graders to complete full general secondary education without chaotic decisions.
“At present, the problem is ensuring the right to full general secondary education for those children who are currently studying in 9th grades… These children are receiving education NOT under the state standards of NUS.”
The ombudsman’s proposals correspond to the logic of a transitional period: to extend the validity of the old state standard until 2028, allow current ninth-graders to complete their studies under the old program, give communities more flexibility and temporarily allow the existence of different models of lyceums for the transitional period. The Ministry of Education also explains that several bills have already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada aimed specifically at solving this problem. They should allow some students to remain in their schools and complete their studies without a mandatory transfer to a lyceum.
“The idea of the bills is to give such ninth-graders the opportunity to finish studying in their own institution without the need to transfer.”
This wording is important because it shows the direction of the decision: the state is not abandoning the reform, but is trying to remove the injustice for those children who fell into the transitional gap. This is not about all students in the country, but primarily about schools where there are still 10th and 11th grades, but which formally have not become lyceums.
At the same time, gymnasiums that have been graduating students after 9th grade for several years and did not have senior school are not covered by such changes. That is, legislative regulation will not mean the automatic opening of 10th and 11th grades where they have not existed for a long time. It should protect precisely those students for whom the change in rules became sudden because of unfinished or poorly explained reorganization. For students who study in Ukrainian schools abroad or in distance classes with a Ukrainian studies component, no separate changes are expected. They continue studying under the current standard, and these programs remain relevant for 10th and 11th grades. Thus, the current situation has three separate levels. The first is the duration of schooling current ninth-graders are not moving to 12 years. The second is the program they are studying under the old standard. The third is the place of study the state must regulate the situation so that children in communities with unfinished reorganization can complete their studies in their own schools.
The biggest mistake that caused public concern is poor communication. Parents should have received a clear explanation in advance: who stays, who transfers, under which program the children will study, which schools will be able to issue education documents, and which will no longer admit 10th grades. Instead, in some communities, this sounded almost like a sudden announcement before the end of 9th grade. The senior school reform may be necessary, but it must not create the feeling that children have become hostages of administrative restructuring. If the state changes the network of institutions, it must ensure a calm transition for those who are already studying under the old model. Especially during wartime, when any additional movement, change of route, new institution and uncertainty become much harder for families than in peacetime. The main guideline is now clear current ninth-graders should complete school under the old standard in 2028. And legislative changes should give those students who found themselves in problematic communities the opportunity to finish their studies in their own schools in 10th and 11th grades without unnecessary pressure to transfer. This decision does not cancel the New Ukrainian School reform. It only separates the future 12-year model from those children who started studying under different rules. This approach makes it possible to preserve the reform, but not shift its organizational mistakes onto the families of current ninth-graders.
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