The Verkhovna Rada adopted changes to the State Budget 2020: the Ministry of Education and Science was able to maintain funding for most key programs

On April 13 the Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the State Budget at an extraordinary meeting. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science and Innovation in the budget, it was possible to maintain funding for key MON programs.

“We understand the criticality of the situation in Ukraine through the coronavirus and the economic losses that our state suffers. However, the budget for education and science is reduced now – this is not getting billions of hryvnias of GDP in the future. In the long run, no investment is as productive for the economy as an investment in education and science. That is why, within the framework of the three-year budget declaration, we will offer to return and increase the expenses of the sphere of education and science”, the temporarily acting Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Lubomyra Mandzyi said.

Funds saved in the state budget:

• UAH 1 billion subventions for the New Ukrainian School. This means that first graders in September 2020 will go into properly equipped classes. In the original version of the budget cut, a complete withdrawal of this subvention was supposed to jeopardize the continuation of primary school reform;
• UAH 500 million subventions to local budgets for the implementation of the program “Able school for better results” These funds will be used to complete the construction, purchase equipment and create classrooms, update the interiors in school premises;
• UAH 100 million for the creation of educational and practical centers for vocational (vocational) education. Money is needed to update the material and technical base of vocational education institutions;
• almost UAH 300 million for the National Research Fund. This year, the National Fund for Science and Technology should announce the first competitions of scientific projects, according to the results of which the best Ukrainian scientists, regardless of departmental subordination, will receive research grants;
• funds for the purchase of new printing equipment for the manufacture of test notebooks on External Independent Testing. It is crucial for the Ministry to maintain the institutional ability of external independent evaluation, in particular, to update printing equipment, since its launch in 2008, it managed to print more than 110 million sheets.

We emphasize that the state budget 2020 saved funds for the salaries of university and college teachers, utilities and the payment of scholarships to students. In addition, competitive financing of scientific projects in higher education institutions of the Ministry of Education and Science has been fully preserved.

The adopted changes to the budget have not saved UAH 250 million, which are provided, in particular, for educational equipment for universities, and UAH 400 million of basic funding for science at universities. However, the Ministry of Education and Science has been working on obtaining a soft loan from the World Bank in recent months.

“The lack of capital costs for universities again jeopardizes the quality of higher education. In such circumstances, obtaining a soft loan from the World Bank becomes vital for us. Our team has been working on this since the fall. All preliminary agreements have been reached. We are an official letter of support for the World Bank project and prior consent of the Ministry of Finance. We do our best to complete the formal procedures as soon as possible and sign documents for receipt within 2020. So we can compensate for the lost development costs for universities”, Yegor Stadny, Deputy Minister of Education and Science said.

The Ministry of Education and Science is confident that investments in education and science will bring the greatest return for the economy in the future. The Ministry of Education and Science proposes to restore the expenses lost in the budget, taking into account them in the three-year budget declaration 2021-2023, which is currently being worked on.

Source: МESU