Nov. 28, 2025, 6:57 p.m.
(First-graders in Kharkiv / Photo: Kharkiv City Council)
Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine is having a negative impact on almost all aspects of Ukrainian life. Due to the constant danger during air raids and the large number of refugees from Ukraine, children's education and the number of schoolchildren themselves have been affected. But despite the war, the educational process in Odesa and the Odesa region continues. The author of Intent has separately tracked the impact of Russian aggression on the number of schoolchildren and first-graders.
It turns out that in Odesa, as well as in Ukraine as a whole, the number of schoolchildren has decreased. Especially first-graders. The reasons include the decline in the birth rate observed in Ukraine in recent years, as well as the war, which has led to the forced migration of Ukrainian families with children abroad.
Thus, in early 2025, it became known that over the past three years, the number of 1st grade students in Ukraine has decreased by about 137,000, which is one third of the total number of first graders before the outbreak of full-scale war. In particular, before the start of the full-scale invasion, in 2021, more than 403,500 students entered the first grade in Ukrainian schools. In 2022, the number of first-graders dropped to almost 325,000 students. In 2023, almost 266 thousand children were enrolled in the first grades of Ukrainian schools. The number of first-graders was slightly higher in 2024. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, last year more than 266 thousand students entered the first grade in Ukraine.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Education and Science, the number of first-graders in Ukraine in 2029 will be at least 30% less than this year. And communities across the country need to prepare school networks for such a scenario now.
"The number of children who are now in the first grade compared to those who are in the seventh grade is more than 30% less. And if we take the birth statistics of recent years, by 2029, 30% fewer children will enter the first grade than are currently in the first grade. Based on this data, we must build our future infrastructure policy," Deputy Minister of Education and Science Nadiya Kuzmychova told Ukrinform.
In Odesa, despite the arrival of a large number of IDPs to the city, the number of first-graders has almost halved since the war.
Olena Buynevych. PHOTO: Intent / Natalia Dovbysh
While in 2021, almost 11 thousand first-graders sat down at the desks of Odesa schools (more than 5,500 teenagers went to the 10th grade then, and a total of 110 thousand children studied in Odesa in 2021-2022), this year almost 89 thousand students entered Odesa schools, of whom only about 6 thousand entered the first grade. According to Olena Buynevych, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Odesa City Council, almost half as many first-graders entered schools as in 2021, when Odesa schools accepted 12,500 first-graders. However, the official clarified that this refers to those who will go to school full-time.
"Of course, there are parents who enroll their children remotely, who are abroad but want to study in Ukrainian schools, so there will be more students," she said.
The decrease in the number of first-graders inevitably led to a reduction in the school network. Thus, at the beginning of 2025, more than half of the schools in Ukraine had 200 or fewer children. Therefore, in 2025, the order of the Ministry of Education and Science No. 1112 came into force, according to which schools that cannot provide full-time education and recruit distance learning classes must stop operating. In addition, since September 1, more than 400 schools in Ukraine have ceased to exist or downgraded their degrees due to insufficient enrollment. Thus, schools with less than 45 students have lost state funding.
Odesa was hardly affected by the school closures. This year, 120 schools operate in the city, 92 of which have their own shelters and 28 have shelters nearby. The situation with shelters was approximately the same last year. Schools set up the simplest shelters in schools, increased the number of places in the existing ones and signed contracts for the use of shelters located near educational institutions. Of the 121 schools at the end of the 2024 school year, 93 had their own simple shelters, 25 used neighboring ones, and three educational institutions were forced to work remotely.
However, many Odesa schools will have to lower their level. Thus, the re-profiling of schools will begin this school year. The plan for the formation of a network of general secondary education institutions of communal property of the territorial community of Odesa was approved by the executive committee of the city council in late February, and in April it was approved by the deputies during the session.
PHOTO: Odesa Regional State Administration
The document states that school education institutions in the city will change their level in 2025-2027. According to the document, 38 lyceums in Odesa are to become gymnasiums. After the reform is completed, these educational institutions will enroll only the first and/or 5th-9th grades, meaning that they will provide primary and/or basic secondary education. Most of them have been transformed (downgraded) since this summer. Some of them were still enrolling students in high school this year, but there will be no such enrollment starting next school year. In general, according to Olena Buynevych, this year there are 43 lyceums (institutions that provide complete secondary education) left in Odesa. Last year there were 81 of them.
These changes are being implemented "taking into account the socio-economic and demographic situation in the city" and the reforms under the New Ukrainian School. According to Nadiya Kuzmychova, Deputy Minister of Education, in her commentary mentioned above, communities should play a key role in optimizing the school network. And they should not rely on the existing buildings that have existed here since the Soviet Union, but on the ability to provide quality education to community children so that they can be competitive in the labor market.
Time will tell whether Odesa's educational institutions will become more competitive after the reorganization.
The full-scale war started by Russia has had a profound impact on Ukraine's education system. Massive population displacement, destruction of schools, psychological trauma, and technical difficulties have significantly affected the participation of graduates in entrance exams and their access to higher education.
The study Estimating the impact of the Russian invasion on the displacement of graduating high school students in Ukraine, based on a large data set of national multi-subject test results, showed that in 2022 at least 78 thousand high school graduates - 34% of the total - were directly affected by the war. Among them, 36.5 thousand students became internally or externally displaced, and 41.5 thousand students did not pass the entrance exam at all, which means a potential "exit" from the education system. Most of the displaced students are from the south and east of the country, particularly from the frontline regions. Approximately 64% of them went abroad.
At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, there were 3.74 million students of all forms of education in the Ukrainian education system. This is the lowest number in the last 30 years. Final data for this school year is not yet available.
Володимир Шкаєв