Gymnasia

Reference: A modern Ukrainian gymnasium is a kind of secondary school with an emphasis on certain subjects in line with particular qualifications. There are 27 gymnasia in Kyiv, enrolling 16, 680 students (5% of the capital’s student body).

Gymnasia are nothing new for Kyiv historically. Our celebrated fellow countrymen, among them Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Konstantin Paustovsky, were gymnasium students.

When Ukrainian Education was caught in a revolutionary whirlwind ten years ago, quite a few secondary schools hurried to change their names. Indeed, lyceum and gymnasium sounded more prestigious.

Quite a few modern gymnasia are based on former specialist schools. Thus, School№109, named after Taras Shevchenko, still focuses on languages. School№49 major in the humanities and the curriculum includes four foreign languages. The gymnasia based on Schools№153 (named after Pushkin) and №178 give instruction in Russian; №299, currently a boarding school, teaches Hebrew; Boarding Gymnasium №1 specialises in Oriental languages.

An economic (business) education can be received at gymnasia №30 “EcoNad”, “Ecoland”, “Apogei”. There are gymnasia best described as multi-discipline (e.g., №59, №43, “Trojeschyna”, Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium, Gymnasium of the Drahomanov National Pedagogic University), and there is Gymnasium № 13 for girls only.

A gymnasium guarantees quality instruction, as a rule. Most graduates have no problems getting enrolled in higher institutions. Many gymnasia actively co-operate with foreign counterparts and allow their allumni to do practical work in different countries. Tuition is free, except that parents will have to pay 20-30 hryvnias a month for additional lessons. But getting enrolled is not easy, as the emphasis is on gifted children. Even if your son or daughter is admitted in the first preparatory year, it does not mean that he or she will make it to the fifth gymnasium year. In conrast, children who studied the first years in other schools can take and pass the entrance exams.

Every gymnasium pupil is faced with an extremely tight schedule. In addition to the compulsory secondary school curriculum, there are quite a few additional classes that not all children can cope with. Also, parents must be very helpful. Of course, the children are kept busy all the time, so there is practically no risk of a bad street influence. However, before sending your offspring to a gymnasium it is best to objectively assess their abilities, to make sure they will measure up and will feel comfortable. In a word, think twice.

Task 2.2. Using the information obtained in task 2.1 and your own school experience compare the system of primary and secondary education in Ukraine with that in Great Britain.

Do not fail to mention the following points:

- goals of education

- stages of education

- types of schools

- curriculum/schedule

- extra-curricular activities

- facilities/equipment

- methods/techniques of teaching

While you compare English and Ukrainian Schooling, use the expressions below: