You're reading: Pavlenko: Most Ukrainian children have no access to out-of-school education

Most Ukrainian children have no access to out-of-school education, the Ukrainian president's commissioner for children's rights, Yuriy Pavlenko, has said. 

“Children have a huge demand for the development of their creative abilities, but unfortunately, today only 30% of Ukrainian children have access to out-of-school education and the development of their talents,” he said in Kyiv on Wednesday at the opening of the Spark!Lab invention lab, where children can learn about the inventions of scientists and create their own works.

Pavlenko said that most exhibits presented at the Mystetsky Arsenal National Cultural, Art and Museum Complex as part of the Spark!Lab project must be in schools – in physics, chemistry and biology labs.

“Unfortunately, there is currently no such opportunity,” he said.

Pavlenko said that the president had instructed the government to make out-of-school education a priority in the educational sphere, starting from next year.

“Out-of-school [education] should be transferred from the secondary level to the first basket of funding,” he said.