UK launches Ukrainian GCSE exams and apologizes for pushing child refugees to study Russian
Education Secretary Georgia Gould has also apologized to Ukrainian children whom British schools pressured to study Russian instead, The Guardian reports, citing Gould.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, more than 30,000 Ukrainian children have fled to the UK.
British schools had no Ukrainian GCSE exam available, so some Ukrainian students were pressured by school staff to take Russian instead.
Ukraine's Ministry of Education raised the issue with British officials in 2024. In a letter to the UK Department for Education, it warned that "without a Ukrainian GCSE, many Ukrainian children are being pressured by school staff to take a GCSE in Russian instead."
For years, the Ukrainian government and community groups have pushed for a Ukrainian GCSE so children could take exams in their native language.
The UK government will fund the development of a Ukrainian GCSE, giving exam board AQA a 340,000-pound grant.
Education Secretary Georgia Gould announced the decision and apologized to Ukrainian students who had been pushed to study Russian instead of their own language.
"So many students were pushed into having to do Russian. I'm really sorry that they were put in that position. It's really important that they will have access to a Ukrainian GCSE," Gould said.
The minister continued, "It was one of the Ukrainian government's asks of us that we deliver a Ukrainian GCSE, and one of the asks from the community and young people. We're really proud to be able to do it, and proud of that partnership with the Ukrainian government."
Ukraine's Education Minister Andrii Butenko also thanked the UK government, saying the new exam would give Ukrainian students an equal chance to choose their native language.
Exam board AQA will develop the Ukrainian GCSE with funding from the UK Department for Education.
The first exams are expected in 2028. Students will be able to choose Ukrainian just like any other GCSE language.
Butenko said the move would "give Ukrainian children forced to leave their homes by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine an equal opportunity to choose their native language as a GCSE subject."
More people around the world are learning Ukrainian. Rubryka has shared stories of people teaching the language to foreigners and bringing Ukrainian culture to even the most remote corners of the world. Read more: "I was told: 'Who cares about Ukrainian, it's not even Russian'": How Ukrainian women teach foreigners the Ukrainian language."
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian World Congress has called on Ukrainians around the world to join the #CancelNetflix campaign after Netflix acquired the rights to new seasons of the Russian cartoon Masha and the Bear.
The organization says the show not only brings money to Russia but also helps spread Russian cultural and informational influence.
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4 of November 2026
