Annual Report. PATRIARCHAL CURIA UGCC 2019

37 Catholic education The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, through its Commission on Catholic Education of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC runs 21 schools and kindergar- tens with 2,806 students enrolled. The Commission on Catholic Education has been working on the inclusion of private education in the reform process, im- proving the cooperation between state authorities and private religious educa- tional institutions. Last year, the Commission prepared a strategy of develop- ment of Catholic education in Ukraine in cooperation with a consulting agency TOT. With the goal assessment of private education, the UGCC Commission on Education has conducted several visits to some private Catholic educational institutions abroad to learn from this international experience. Sr. Khrystopho - ra Bushtyn accompanied by two directors of Catholic educational institutions in Ukraine (Ruslan Markiv and Sr. Jeremia Steblyna) participated in the World Congress "Educatio Si" in New York, USA (June 5-8, 2019). Over 1000 partic - ipants of the Congress discussed the issues of development of a culture of dialogue and peace, seeking how to contribute to the Christian identity of schools, how to protect children from violence, how to ensure inclusivity of the schools etc. In addition, the Commission delegates visited Catholic schools in NY (administered by the UGCC parish, SSMI and Salesians). The experience gained was presented to the directors of the Catholic schools and heads of the eparchial commissions. 21 schools and kindergartens run by the UGCC with 2 806 students enrolled The Commission on Catholic education continued the work of analyzing legisla- tion and creating proposals for the improvement of legislation concerning edu- cation in Ukraine . In particular, the proposals for the following amendments were elaborated: analysis and proposals to the draft of the bill "Proposals for the chang- es to the Decree of the President N580 dated 13.10.2015 "On the strategy of national and patriotic education of children and youth for 2016–2020" (by Sr. Khrystofora Bushtyn and Mrs. Oksana Senchuk); analysis and proposals to the law "On the secondary education" (approved in Mar 2020) (by experts Mrs. Iryna Barmatova and Mr. Juriy Reshetnikov, deputy head of the Civil Council of Churches and Religious organizations by the Ministry of Education of Ukraine). The new law "On Secondary Education" has several positive changes (improvements) for private education in Ukraine, in particular for Catholic education. For instance, the new law ensures the right of private educational institutions to introduce the subject "religion" and the right to determine the religious direction of their educational activities; ensures financing of students by State (in place of the former financing of state educational institutions), the mechanism of financing will be based on coefficients set by the Government of Ukraine; guarantees freedom for educational institutions to use their own study programs to achieve educational results of students, thus provid- ing pedagogic freedom on how to teach students, which methodologies to apply; enrollment of students can be made based on competition and not limited to the territory (previously an educational institution was obliged to accept students living in near-by areas); ensures inclusion of children with special needs; provides freedom to forming of classes (number of students); ensures freedom for teach- ers to choose the institutions for obligatory permanent post-graduate education (now it is not limited to state institutes); ensures freedom for providing other paid services (on parents’ free will). For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and under- standing Proverbs 2:6