On the eve of the new academic year in Ukraine, school fees were calculated

Amounts that go “to the left” often exceed spending on the subjects necessary for training.

In Ukraine, intensive preparations are underway for the new academic year. Its characteristic features are visible at the subway stations of the front-line Kharkov and Dnieper, and, of course, on the shelves of school bazaars. “MK” considered the financial component of these preparations and came to the conclusion: for the majority of Ukrainians, everything, in general, is not so bad.

On the gates of many Ukrainian churches belonging to the UOC, you can see printed invitations to participate in collective prayers to St. Sergius of Radonezh for help in studies. The fact is that in a number of European countries that have sheltered Ukrainian families, the academic year starts as early as next Tuesday.

The government of Ukraine introduces a new format of study in 2023 – for students staying outside the country. For 6-8 hours a week, these children should study the Ukrainian component of the school curriculum. The rest of the subjects will be taught in the schools of the countries where they currently live. This part of the program will be automatically credited to them. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, about a million children are now outside Ukraine.

Actually, Ukrainian schools will conduct lessons in full-time, mixed or online form. The format of training is the area of ​​responsibility of the local authorities, depending on the situation with the safety of students. In Kharkov, classrooms will gather for joint study in the local subway. School buses will bring children to certain metro stations, schoolchildren will be fed at the expense of the Kharkiv city budget. Studying in the metro, according to Mayor Igor Terekhov, will be carried out 3-4 times a week, in shifts and in turn.

Most likely, a similar plan for organizing systematic training in the dungeons will be developed in another million-plus city – Dnepr, formerly Dnepropetrovsk.

If everything is more or less clear with school meals, a long set of items for education will, as before, be purchased by the parents of the students themselves. Only for the office – a diary, notebooks, pens, objects for drawing and work – the family will have to pay from one and a half thousand hryvnias (almost 4100 Russian rubles) to two thousand (5450 rubles). If a student needs a new portfolio, expenses will more than double. The cheapest backpack with orthopedic backs will now cost 2500 UAH. (6806 rubles). The price of some backpacks reaches 4 thousand (10,890 rubles).

Let’s not forget about the obligatory attribute of any student – notebooks, which, on average, you need to have from 10 to 15 pieces. The simplest for 12 sheets – 4 and a half hryvnia (12 rubles 25 kopecks). The one for 18 sheets – from six hryvnias (16 rubles 35 kopecks), for 96 sheets – from 35 hryvnias (95 rubles 30 kopecks). The diary is once again 35 UAH. A pencil case will cost an average of 90-100 UAH. (245 – 272 rubles).

A school uniform for a girl, again on average, is 2,300 hryvnias (6,261 rubles), for a boy – one and a half thousand (4,083 rubles).

In addition to the above, adults are required to provide for one more indispensable financial cost – officially prohibited, but actually existing in Ukraine, school fees. For cosmetic repairs of the class, for new curtains, excursions, photo shoots and more. In total, this is about three and a half thousand hryvnia (9530 rubles).

…Recently, an MK correspondent overheard the story of 35-year-old Olga, who left for Norway with three children a year and a half ago. The woman was most of all struck by the complete absence of “non-core spending” in the local children’s institutions. Ukrainian children are provided with clothes and footwear free of charge. They feed in kindergartens and schools, too, “at the expense of the company.” Not to mention the provision of all school supplies. Every child is also given skis for free – this is an obligatory attribute in a northern country. True, parents of little Norwegians often refuse handouts, because they want to provide their child with something branded.