The “Learning Together” Project Supported Printing More than 361,000 Textbooks for the 5th Grades of the NUS

The “Learning together” project, co-financed by the EU and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, helped provide 5th grades of the New Ukrainian School with textbooks. With 1.2 million euros allocated by donors, the project printed more than 361,000 science textbooks through Ukrainian printing houses. This was announced during the conference “New school, new horizons: the final conference of the “Learning together” project.

“Finland and the EU are not only reliable partners but also true friends. Today we are summing up the results of the “Learning Together” project, but I am convinced that our cooperation will continue in the future. As part of the project, 361,000 science textbooks for the 5th grade were also printed. Help with providing students with textbooks is another important step in our partners’ support of the New Ukrainian School reform,” said Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyi.

The state annually allocated funds for the purchase of modern educational literature, in particular, for 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine planned to publish textbooks and manuals for students of the 5th and 9th grades. However, as a result of full-scale Russian military aggression, spending on education decreased significantly, which made it impossible to finance the publication.

Therefore, in December 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science requested to consider the possibility of financing the publication of textbooks in the field of science education through the “Learning Together” project. In January 2023, the Supervisory Board of the Project approved the decision to support the request of the MoES. For this, the project allocated 1.2 million euros.

“After learning about the need to support the Ministry of Education and Science with the printing of textbooks, we could not stand aside. After all, a high-quality and modern textbook is one of the key components of the New Ukrainian School, which our project is designed to support. I am sure that our joint efforts will help to make the education of Ukrainian schoolchildren more effective and interesting,” said the Chief Technical Adviser of the “Learning Together” project, Dr. Jarkko Lampiselkä.

With the allocated funds, 5 Ukrainian printing houses, which were selected through an open competition according to EU rules, printed 361,367 copies of science textbooks for the fifth grade according to the new model curricula of the NUS:

• “Discovering Nature” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (D. Bida, H. Hilberh, Y. Kolisnyk);
• “Discovering Nature” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (T. Korshevniuk, O. Yaroshenko);
• “Discovering Nature” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (L. Midak, N. Fomenko, V. Haida, S. Podoliuk, V. Kravets, I. Kravets, I. Oliinyk, Z. Pushkar, S. Banakh, V. Stakhurska, P. Kozlovska);
• “Discovering Nature” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (R. Shalamov, H. Yahenska);
• “Discovering Nature” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (O. Yankavets, O. Dubchan, H. Ilchenko);
• “Natural Sciences” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (T. Zasiekina, Zh. Bilyk, H. Lashevska);
• “Environment” – a textbook for the integrated course for grade 5 of general secondary education institutions (O. Hryhorovych, Y. Bolotina, M. Romanov).

The list of textbooks that were printed was approved by the order of the MoES dated 14.06.2022 No. 545 “On approval of the list of textbooks for the 5th grade of general secondary education institutions that can be issued at the expense of the state budget”. The II stage of the competition for the selection of textbooks was not held due to the legal regime of martial law introduced in Ukraine in accordance with the Law of Ukraine dated 05/12/2015 No. 389-VIII “On the legal regime of martial law”.

The textbooks were also distributed among designated MoES and the Institute of education content modernization regional logistics centers.