II. Read the tехt and compare what you know about the system of education in Ukraine with the information in the text.
Education in Ukraine
Present day independent Ukraine has a well-developed system of education which matches the standards of the developed countries. Pre-school education is not compulsory and is fee-paying. Most parents take their children to nursery schools or kindergartens at the age of 3. Up to the age of 5 children mostly eat, sleep and play there, but in senior groups they are taught the basics of arithmetic, reading, writing, arts and in some schools foreign languages.
Compulsory secondary education begins at the age of 6-7 and is free in state schools and fee-paying in private ones. Some schools, especially those with language slant, have preparatory classes. Secondary education includes three stages: primary (1st-3d grades), basic (4-9th grades) and senior (10- 11th grades). In regular secondary schools children start learning foreign languages from the 5th grade and have fewer lessons of language a week than specialised language schools that start teaching languages from the 1st grade. Recently new types of schools have appeared: gymnasiums and lycees. In addition, there are schools with technical, computer, mathematical, law, pedagogical and art slant. All the subjects in the secondary schools are obligatory but there are optional courses that students of senior grades can take in addition to the required ones.
Extra-curricular activities usually include a variety of sports and drama clubs, interest groups and various school parties.
Those senior students who want to get qualification alongside the secondary education, can go to vocational training schools. Post-secondary education is provided by technical schools and colleges of 1st and 2nd Level of Accreditation that train young specialists in different trades.
Institutions of higher learning (higher educational establishments) include universities, academies, institutes and conservatories. They all hold entrance examinations to select the best applicants to be their students. Among the best known higher educational establishments there are Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Kyiv Polytechnic University, International Independent University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy". Kyiv State Conservatory, Lviv State University, Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv State Pedagogical University, Kharkiv State Polytechnic University and many others.
Post graduate education begins after the last year of studies and usually results in theses on the chosen scientific topic and the degree of the Candidate of Science. Doctorate Degree is awarded for an outstanding scientific research.
Secondary school
Children in Ukraine start school when they are six (or seven) years old and they are expected to be able to read or write before they start.
In the first three or four years most of the time is spent on learning to read and write their own language, and on mathematics.
They also study the locality of the school, its trees, flowers, streets, factories, shops, soil, rivers, parks, climate and history. They have a course in handiwork of all kinds, drawing and painting, singing and physical education.
In winter skating and skiing are the main outdoor sports, and when the snow is cleared in late spring, volley-ball and football.
The Ukrainian language (and other languages) is pronounced almost as it is written, which makes it much easier to learn to read.
In Ukraine there is only one kind of school and the boys and girls stay in it from the age of 7 to 16.
Sometimes, of course, in small villages there is only a school for the younger children, and at the age of 11 they travel by bus or sleigh to the higher classes at the nearest town or country centre.
But there is no streaming or sorting of pupils. Boys and girls are entered in the register as they come, and when one class is full another is started. The children usually stay in the same class all the way up the; school, so they make and keep the same friends all their school lives.
They not only learn together but go on excursions, visit theatres and cinemas and even go on holidays together. The same teacher usually stays with a class for four years and she gets to know the children and their parents very well. She visits the homes of her pupils and as the result of her friendship is able to help those who need it.
Work in schools is marked out of points. 10-12 is excellent, 7-9 is good and 4-6 is satisfactory or a pass point. 1-3 is considered poor and the pupil who gets such points is helped by his or her friends or by the teacher to go over the work and do better.
In the first two years there are four lessons a day, each lasting 45 minutes. There is a break after each lesson: a short one of five minutes after the first and third, and a long one lasting 25 or 30 minutes after the second.
The third year has 26 lessons of 45 minutes each a week, and the fourth year has 29 lessons. There are six schooldays a week, so these lessons are spread out unevenly and end at different times on each day. Lessons begin- at 8.30 to 9 in the morning and end, therefore, between 12 and 1 o'clock, according to the number of lessons that day.
In the long break children have either a hot meal or a 'snack, according to their choice.
After lessons there are voluntary clubs run in any subject chosen by the children. These may be linked to school subjects - for example, a chemistry group may set up experiments, or do some piece of research; a history group may make models to illustrate what is being done in class, or a geography group may embark on some project.
Or the clubs may be artistic - drawing, dancing, painting, choir-singing - or recreative, such as chess or sports or games.
These clubs (or "circles") go on for two hours and may be run by teachers or leaders specially employed by the school, or by some of the older boys or girls.
Although lessons finish early in the day, many schools arrange for the younger pupils to stay on at school for the whole day if their parents wish. They have dinner and tea there, and can do their homework in a quiet room supervised by a teacher.
They also play outside or go for walks. In this way parents who are out at work all day know that their children are well cared for.
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