The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a new $415 million systemic project in Ukraine, “Making Education Accessible and Resilient in the Face of Crisis in Ukraine” (LEARN), aimed at improving primary and secondary education in Ukraine, which will reach one million students, teachers, and school staff.
“It is crucial to mitigate the impact of war on children, especially those from the most vulnerable families, by minimizing disruptions to the learning process,” Bob Sohm, World Bank Regional Director for Eastern Europe, said in a release on Saturday night.
It is specified that the LEARN program provides for measures aimed at improving general security conditions in schools, providing free transportation for vulnerable students, teacher training, textbook procurement, and improving governance in the education sector. The project also aims to help implement a comprehensive education reform in grades 1-12 known as the New Ukrainian School (NUS), which meets EU standards, the WB said.
“The LEARN project will help thousands of Ukrainian students return to protected learning environments,” Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said in the release.
It is specified that the project is being implemented using the financial instrument “Program-for-results” (PforR).
The Ministry of Finance notes that LEARN is aimed at improving the conditions for teaching and learning, which are implemented through subventions from the state budget to local budgets.
The WB notes that the initial funding for the LEARN program includes $235 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (IBRD) Assistance for Ukraine’s Necessary Credit Support (ADVANCE Ukraine) Trust Fund, $150 million from the International Development Association’s (IDA) Special Program for the Recovery of Ukraine and Moldova, and $30 million from the Ukraine Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Transformation Trust Fund (URTF). The program provides for results-based financing that can be scaled up as additional funds become available.
According to the release of the Ministry of Finance, the project agreement is expected to be signed in September 2024, and by the end of 2024, based on the achievement of pre-defined indicators, Ukraine will be able to receive $200 million to the general fund of the state budget.
The responsible executor of the PforR LEARN project in terms of supervision and coordination is the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. At the same time, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has been designated as the lead implementing agency, which will be responsible for the implementation of the LEARN project, its monitoring and evaluation.
The Cabinet of Ministers postponed for another year the implementation of the resolution adopted in July 2019 to increase teachers’ salaries by 20-70%.
According to the representative of the Cabinet in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnichuk in the telegram channel, the relevant decision was made at the government meeting on Tuesday.
In particular, stopped until December 31, 2023, the Cabinet resolution of June 10, 2019 № 822 “On remuneration of pedagogical, scientific-pedagogical and scientific employees of educational and scientific institutions”.
As reported, on July 10, 2019, the Cabinet approved a reform of teacher pay with an increase to four subsistence minimum wage by 2023. The plan was for teacher pay to be 2.5 living wages in 2020, 3 living wages in 2021, 3.5 living wages in 2022 and 4 living wages beginning in January 2023. Later, due to lack of funds for the reform implementation in the state and local budgets, the decree was suspended until December 31, 2020. Its implementation was also postponed in subsequent years.
