Our goal is to provide children with high-quality education, irrespective of school location. The New Educational Space (NES) should not only give a certain set of knowledge, but first and foremost – motivate a child to study. A school is not only 45% of time a child spends for learning process. The school should be an educational hub, where children can come and receive both basic and extracurricular education, as well as comprehensive development. Therefore, it is important to establish a variety of school interest clubs, theaters, additional courses to master trades, emphasised Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, at the opening of the new Piskiv secondary school in the Rivne Oblast built under the standards of the the NES for 226 children.

“In the nearest future, we have to provide the Piskiv school with the status of a hub school and establish necessary creative space for modern children: interactive whiteboards, physical and chemical laboratories, ability to interactive learning and inclusion. On the basis of this school, we form a new educational space in the whole area, founded on European educational principles. It is not just about a good energy-efficient building and comfortable classrooms – it is, first of all, a new dimension of education, a new philosophy of learning,” said Hennadii Zubko.

He is convinced that the new school will fill the village with life, as almost 2,5 thousand residents live on the territory of the Piskiv village council. “Ukrainians are waiting for changes that become implemented in education, healthcare, infrastructure! And these changes will take place due to the decentralisation reform, that has already started to produce positive results. 457 hub schools with 909 affiliates, and 144 hub schools in AHs have been established so far. Almost 37 thousand students are being transported to secondary schools by school buses,” said the Vice Prime Minister.

The Piskiv village school was founded in 1952 as a seven-year educational establishment, then it received the status of a secondary school, and was further reorganised into a general secondary establishment. By 1974, children were studying in 6 classrooms of the wooden building, and later the bricked premises were added. Though in 2001 the building received an emergency status. In 2016, the village finally started building the new educational premises. In 2017 the work continued, envisaging over UAH 23 million: 90% - from the State Fund for Regional Development, 10% - from the local budgets.