School textbooks in Ukraine continue to be printed on poor-quality grey paper, with outdated designs and fonts, which makes them difficult for students to read. This was stated by Serhiy Babak, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Education Committee, in a comment to Ukrinform.
According to him, the visual component of educational materials has remained virtually unchanged for many years. Printing on cheap paper, small fonts and outdated design make textbooks unattractive and even demotivating for schoolchildren. At the same time, the education system strives to ensure that teaching materials are not only useful in terms of content, but also visually modern, easy to read and interesting for children from the very first page.
Babak emphasises that sanitary standards, which have not been updated for decades, limit the quality of printing, the choice of materials and the format of textbooks. According to the parliamentarian, all this needs to be reviewed, because without high-quality design, it is difficult to talk about a full-fledged modern education.
He paid particular attention to the content of textbooks. The committee is working to reduce the number of errors in the texts, diversify the presentation of information and adapt it to the needs of modern children. There are also plans to update the system for reviewing educational materials, which should begin earlier to ensure that textbooks are delivered to schools in time for the start of the school year.
Serhiy Babak also acknowledged that the situation with textbooks for children with special educational needs (SEN) is even more complicated. Their production takes more time, and the number of supplies is significantly lower than the demand.
Despite this, the head of the committee assured that, in general, the state will provide schools with the necessary number of textbooks. The main thing is to ensure not only the availability but also the quality of educational materials.
Read also: Ukrainian becomes an official second foreign language in Polish schools
