Starting in 2025, the opportunity to choose the Ukrainian language as one of the non-curricular subjects will be opened for students of the final courses of higher educational institutions in Ireland. The exam will be written only, and because of this, it is mostly aimed at native speakers of Ukrainian.
This was reported by the Minister of Education of Ireland, Norma Foley. Since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine, almost 75.000 Ukrainians have found refuge in Ireland. Of them, 15.000 are children, 5.200 are students, and another 100 are teachers and lecturers of the Ukrainian language who have entered the register of the Pedagogical Council over the past year.
"As a nation, Ireland has stood firmly with the people of Ukraine. It is right that we would do so. It is clear to me that you share this commitment. I see this every time I visit your schools and see how much has been done to welcome Ukrainian pupils to your classrooms and your communities," Norma Foley.
Notably, the program to access native speakers to study in their native language in a foreign country is intended only for citizens of the European Union. Ukraine is not a member of the EU, but Ireland approved Ukraine's request, made after the start of a full-scale invasion. Mandarin Chinese has the same privilege and standard non-curricular languages — Romanian, Modern Greek, Finnish, Dutch, Croatian and Maltese.
