Ukraine’s new digital vision for education

We live in unprecedented times, facing challenges that call for extraordinary measures. Yet what we’ve found is that Ukraine, as a young nation, is vibrant and agile. You may have heard me say that the Ministry for Digital Transformation functions much like a startup: fast, efficient, and ambitious. This ethos has proved its worth during the ongoing war, demonstrating that a digital state is a resilient state. It is through innovation that we will find our path to victory.

While our nation endures war, the pursuit of knowledge remains an unbreakable link to our future, a future that we are actively building today. An educated population is our strongest weapon: we are nurturing a generation that is equipped and empowered to rise above all challenges and build a stronger Ukraine for tomorrow.

Preserving critical education records for our citizens

In the crucial days leading up to the invasion, we were able to swiftly migrate critical systems and records to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud. To date, we have secured more than 15 million gigabytes, including our education records like school transcripts, diplomas, and scholarly research, to ensure that our citizens can continue their education, no matter where they are.

Remote learning for primary and university students

We are fortifying our educational institutions through the cloud’s agility and scalability, creating lifelines that maintain the continuity of education where attending physical schools has become untenable. Remote institutions such as the Optima School and the All-Ukrainian Online School currently serve hundreds of thousands of displaced children. This ensures that our children can still learn every day—no matter where they sleep at night.

The dream of higher education for our university students remains alive and well. Last year, more than 260,000 students were able to take their college entrance exams from anywhere in the world and continue their path to becoming Ukraine’s future leaders. AWS and EPAM worked together to move critical resources for 28 Ukrainian universities to the cloud so that learning will continue uninterrupted—and undeterred by blackouts or the destruction of campus infrastructure.

Free training opens up new career paths for Ukrainians

We are equipping learners of any age with skills to enrich their careers. ITSkills4U is a free program through our nonprofit partner ZPP that offers courses and certifications in cloud computing, job placement support, and language classes. The program is available to participants living in Poland, which hosts more than 1.5 million of our citizens, and is available virtually to all Ukrainians. Skills programs like these aren’t only helping our people rebuild their lives, they are propelling them forward.

Forging a path toward a brighter tomorrow

In the face of adversity, one thing will never change: our unwavering belief in the power of education to uplift our people and shape the destiny of our nation. Our resilience stems from our willingness to adapt, innovate, and learn. Education is a crucial part of how we fight back, and an important part of how we will win.