UK authorities apologised to Ukrainian children over the Russian language and announced a Ukrainian GCSE

UK Minister for School Standards Georgia Gould apologised to Ukrainian pupils who had to sit a GCSE language exam in Russian due to the absence of a Ukrainian one. The authorities announced the development of a Ukrainian exam: AQA will receive a grant of £340,000, teaching will start in September 2028, and the first exams will take place in the summer of 2029.

Aziz KarimovFirst published on tafs uz 4 November 2026 at 20:082 min read

The key facts

Georgia Gould apologised to Ukrainian children forced to study Russian in order to sit a GCSE
The exam board AQA will receive a grant of £340,000 to develop a Ukrainian-language GCSE
Teaching will begin in September 2028, with the first exams in the summer of 2029; the subject will be available to all pupils

Apologies and a new exam

UK Minister for School Standards Georgia Gould has apologised to Ukrainian refugee children who, due to the absence of a Ukrainian-language GCSE, were offered the chance to study Russian instead. This was reported by the newspaper The Guardian, and was also written about by Life.ru and Gazeta.Ru. 'A great many pupils had to study Russian. I am truly sorry that they found themselves in such a situation,' Gould said.

Details of the new programme

At the same time, the authorities announced the development of a Ukrainian-language GCSE. The exam board AQA will receive a grant of £340,000 from the Department for Education for this work. According to Life.ru, teaching under the new programme is planned to begin in September 2028, with the first exams to be held in the summer of 2029; Gazeta.Ru notes that preparation will be completed by 2028, and Ukrainian children will be able to sit the exam in 2029. Assessment will cover listening comprehension, speaking skills, reading and writing. The subject will be available to all pupils, not only those from Ukraine; the programme is intended for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Context

According to The Guardian, as cited by Gazeta.Ru, the decision was the result of years of efforts by the Ukrainian government and public organisations representing the interests of more than 30,000 Ukrainian refugee children in Britain. Separately, Life.ru recalls that from 1 January 2027 the UK will significantly reduce payments to hosts who provide housing to Ukrainians under the 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme: the monthly allowance will fall from £350 to £100, that is, by more than three times. Thus, the announced exam remains a plan for the future: until 2029, Ukrainian pupils will still have to sit language GCSEs in other languages.