- December 22, 2025
- 4:37 pm
- Ukraine
December 12, 2025 in the hall of the board of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine a final meeting was held of the Civil Council for Cooperation with Churches and Religious Organizations at the Ministry of Education and Science. The meeting was held in a mixed — in-person and remote — format and was dedicated to summarizing the work for the year.
The meeting was chaired by the head of the Civil Council, head of the Department of Spiritual Education and Theological Science of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, professor, archpriest Oleksandr Trofimlyuk. From the Ministry of Education and Science, the head of the department for the modernization of the network of higher education institutions of the Directorate of Higher Education and Adult Education Tetiana Kotliarova participated in the meeting.
Jewish Schools of Ukraine: The Path from Independence to Resilience During the War
A key point on the agenda was the report of the assistant to the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, member of the Civil Council Hennadiy Bilorytsky, dedicated to the state and development of preschool and general education institutions of Jewish communities in Ukraine.
According to him, Jewish educational institutions began to actively form in Ukraine in the early 1990s, immediately after the declaration of the country’s independence. Already in 1991 in the Obolon district of Kyiv, the first Jewish school was opened — now known as school No. 299, which also started a kindergarten. This experience became a starting point for the further development of Jewish education.
Subsequently, dozens of Jewish schools and kindergartens appeared in all major cities of Ukraine where Jewish communities operated. In particular, five Jewish schools operate in Kyiv, two in Odesa, one in Dnipro, but one of the strongest in terms of level, as well as educational institutions function in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, and other localities.
With the start of the full-scale war, some institutions were closed for safety reasons, some were forced to move to other premises or regions. Nevertheless, as the speaker emphasized, the Jewish education system in Ukraine withstood the blow and managed to adapt to the new realities.
International Projects and Ukraine–Israel Connection
Special attention was paid to international cooperation. Thus, in 2022, on the initiative of the United Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine led by the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine Yaakov Dov Bleich, together with the Jewish community of Hungary led by Chief Rabbi Shlomo Koves, a Ukrainian-Jewish-Hungarian school was opened in Budapest.
Today, this educational institution educates several hundred children from Ukraine — of different nationalities and religious denominations, which has become one of the examples of preserving the educational and cultural identity of Ukrainian families abroad.
Also noted was the development of international exchange programs between Jewish schools in Ukraine and educational institutions in other countries, primarily along the lines of Ukraine–Israel and Ukraine–USA.
According to Hennadiy Bilorytsky, the favorable attitude of the state of Ukraine towards the creation and functioning of Jewish educational institutions is supported by consistent state policy, international agreements with Israel, as well as the high level of self-organization of the Jewish communities themselves and their active cooperation with foreign partners.
Recognition of Spiritual and Scientific Education
During the meeting, participants also heard a report on the activities of the Commission for State Recognition of Documents on Higher Spiritual Education. According to the deputy chair of the Commission Tetiana Kotliarova, in 2025, 345 certificates of state recognition were issued. In total, from 2022 to 2025, the current composition of the Commission positively reviewed 2476 cases.
By open vote, the Civil Council delegated to the next composition of the Commission Vasyl Babiy, Hennadiy Bilorytsky, Olha Marchak, and Nadiya Muslimova.
In addition, the chair of the Commission for State Recognition of Documents on Scientific Degrees and Academic Titles Svitlana Krishtof reported that in 2025, 9 certificates of Doctor of Philosophy and 1 — Professor were issued.
Dialogue Between the State and Religious Communities
Summing up the year, Archpriest Oleksandr Trofimlyuk noted that during 2025, the Civil Council held five meetings, during which issues of spiritual and moral education in preschool institutions, teaching of specialized disciplines in schools, as well as the creation and development of educational institutions founded by religious organizations were discussed.
A separate point was the working meeting on June 4, 2025 of the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyi with representatives of the Civil Council and the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. Among the key topics were basic military training in universities, changes in educational legislation, the possibility of obtaining a third educational level in spiritual universities, as well as the prospects for introducing the institute of educational chaplaincy.
At the end of the meeting, the head of the Civil Council thanked its members for their active work throughout the year, the staff of the Ministry of Education and Science for constructive cooperation, and outlined the main directions of the Council’s activities in 2026.
Material prepared for NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency based on official reports from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Civil Council at the Ministry of Education and Science.
