Online School in Ukraine: For Families Who Stayed, Working Alongside the Ukrainian School

By Alfred Ouko, Founder · October 2026 · 10 min read

Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 has shaped every education decision in Ukraine since. Our existing guide is written for families who have left the country. This one is for families who are still in Ukraine: in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv and elsewhere, often with a child in a Ukrainian school that teaches in person, online or in some mix of the two. Many of these families want to keep the Ukrainian school and the Ukrainian record, and to add an English-medium, internationally examined track for the years ahead. I want to set out plainly what that looks like, how it works around the realities of the war, and where it does not help.

Who this is for

Ukraine’s technology sector has kept working through the war, and many of its families are in Kyiv and Lviv, where large IT employers such as SoftServe and EPAM have long had a major presence. Others have moved within the country, to Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and other western cities, and are rebuilding routines there. Families in Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa often live with more frequent disruption still. Some parents work for international companies and expect their children to study abroad; some simply want a qualification that will still mean the same thing whatever happens next. What they have in common is a child who is already in the Ukrainian system and should stay there, with something added rather than replaced.

What the Ukrainian school already does well

Ukrainian schools and teachers have kept education going under conditions few systems have faced, and the free All-Ukrainian Online School gives every child access to the national curriculum. The Ukrainian school carries the Ukrainian language, literature and history, the national record, and preparation for the NMT that leads to Ukrainian universities. We do not compete with any of that, and would not want to. What a Ukrainian school usually cannot offer is examined subjects taught in English to Cambridge or Pearson Edexcel standards, and a qualification that UK, European and North American universities read without conversion. Where a child’s Ukrainian school already teaches English well, our classes build on that rather than repeat it, and the two schedules are planned so they do not compete.

The legal position

The Law on Complete General Secondary Education of 2020 provides for family education and distance learning, and remote learning has been widely used since 2022. For most families the cleanest arrangement is to keep the child enrolled in their Ukrainian school, which holds the legal obligation and the Ukrainian record, and to treat Smartious as supplementary study. Rules have changed during martial law and may change again, so check the current position with your school or the Ministry of Education and Science before changing an enrolment. If the family later moves abroad, the host country’s registration rules apply there. We are glad to look at your situation with you, but we cannot give legal advice on it.

Recorded lessons, because some lessons will be interrupted

Air-raid alerts and power cuts are part of school life in Ukraine, and any plan that ignores them is not a plan. Every Smartious lesson is recorded, so a child who loses a class to a shelter or an outage can watch it the same evening and bring questions to the next session. Groups are small, so a teacher notices when a student has fallen behind. Ukraine is one hour behind Nairobi in winter and on the same time in summer, so our afternoon classes land after the Ukrainian school day. We cannot fix connectivity during an outage, and families should be realistic about how many subjects fit around that.

Subjects, exams and the shape of a week

Two or three subjects alongside the Ukrainian school is the realistic starting point: often Mathematics, English and a science, or Computer Science for families in the IT sector. These lead to Cambridge IGCSE and then A-Level. Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel examinations are sat at authorised exam centres, which families book; that may be a centre in Ukraine where conditions permit, or one across the border in Poland, and we confirm centres per family, per session. Exam travel is a real consideration in wartime, so we plan it early rather than in the spring. IGCSE subjects usually take two years, so starting at thirteen or fourteen leaves time for a sitting at fifteen or sixteen without strain.

Where it leads, and when to stay on the Ukrainian route

A-Levels are read natively through UCAS, the Common Application serves US plans, and Polish and German universities assess them routinely. Ukrainian universities have their own procedures for foreign qualifications, with requirements to confirm per programme, and Canadian plans can run through our Ontario partner school. But if your child is aiming at a Ukrainian university through the NMT and is doing well at school, the Ukrainian route is the right one and an extra track may simply add strain. Polish universities have been a common choice for Ukrainian students, and English-taught programmes there and in Germany do not require the local language. Whatever the destination, we would rather a student take three A-Levels chosen for a specific course than four chosen in hope.

For families who have stayed in Ukraine, the Ukrainian school remains the foundation, and it should. What a live online school can add is a small number of English-medium examined subjects, recorded so that alerts and outages cost less, leading to qualifications that keep every door open. If that would help your child, book an assessment and we will plan a realistic load together.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need to leave the Ukrainian school?

No, and for most families we recommend staying. The Ukrainian school keeps the legal obligation and the Ukrainian record; our classes run alongside as supplementary study.

What times are live classes in Ukraine?

Ukraine is one hour behind Nairobi in winter (EET) and on the same time in summer (EEST), so afternoon classes fall after the Ukrainian school day. Every lesson is recorded.

What happens if a lesson is cut short by an alert or a power cut?

The recording is available afterwards, and the teacher follows up in the next session. Small groups make it easier to catch up.

Where would our child sit exams?

At authorised exam centres, which families book: in Ukraine where conditions permit, or in a neighbouring country such as Poland. We confirm a centre per family, per session.

Next steps

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