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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Ukrainian language will officially be added to the list of subjects in the British school qualification GCSE, and children will be able to take a full exam in it. Previously, British schools did not offer this opportunity. This was reported by Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valeriy Zaluzhny.
According to the ambassador, the decision was made by the UK Department for Education, which announced preparations to introduce a GCSE exam in the Ukrainian language. This means Ukrainian students will be able to officially certify knowledge of their native language and obtain a British educational qualification.
GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) is the main British school qualification that children usually obtain at ages 15–16 after studying several subjects and taking exams. From now on, Ukrainian will be among those subjects, and not only children from Ukraine but all British students will be able to sit the exam.
Teaching under the new curriculum will begin in September 2028 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and the first exams will take place in 2029. Zaluzhny emphasized that for the thousands of children whom the war forced to leave Ukraine, this is an opportunity to study abroad while maintaining their own identity.
"Our children must keep their connection to Ukraine, wherever they live. And the native language is one of the most important foundations of that connection," said Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valeriy Zaluzhny.
The ambassador thanked the UK government, the Department for Education, and their colleagues at Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science, as well as the British and Ukrainian experts who worked to promote this initiative. He singled out the contribution of the head of the Ukrainian School of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Inna Hryhorovych, and the entire Ukrainian community in Britain, which worked for several years to bring this idea to life.
Why this decision is considered the result of years of work
Zaluzhny called the introduction of the exam the result of years of work and the persistence of the Ukrainian community in the United Kingdom, as well as Ukrainian diplomats. In his view, this step shows that the UK–Ukraine partnership works, and the Agreement on a century-long partnership is being filled with real meaning that affects people’s lives and the development of the younger generation.
Earlier, Informator reported that the UK halved payments to hosts who took Ukrainian refugees into their homes: monthly thank-you payments were reduced from 350 to 100 pounds, and some displaced people now fear losing their housing. We also wrote that Britain is opening new resettlement programs for people in need of international protection—through local communities, universities, and employers—although Ukraine is not yet included in the list of countries for the first phase of this initiative.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Історичний крок - Залужний повідомив про запровадження у Британії шкільного іспиту з української мови". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
