The Last Bell in 2026: when and how the school celebration will be held
In 2026, the Last Bell ceremony will take place on 29 May in most Ukrainian schools.
According to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1003, the academic year legally runs until 30 June 2026; however, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) has granted teaching councils the right to determine the actual date of the end of term independently.
This allows schools to respond flexibly to the security situation, the pace of the curriculum, and the schedule of power cuts in their region.
Dates of events in cities across Ukraine
Due to the autonomy of educational institutions, the schedule of celebrations varies significantly across regions.
At the end of May — specifically on the 29th — assemblies will be held in educational institutions in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Chernihiv.
In Lutsk, the celebrations will take place on 29 or 30 May, depending on the length of the school week at the specific school.
Children will be in school a little longer in Lviv (where most schools will finish lessons by 5 June), Zhytomyr (where the Department of Education has recommended 6 June), and also in Kropyvnytskyi, where the most flexible schedule has been introduced, so individual lyceums will celebrate on different days between 22 May and 5 June.
How the celebrations will take place during wartime
The format of the celebrations has been adapted to meet the security requirements of martial law, so the safety of pupils and teachers remains the top priority. In the event of an air raid alert, all participants must immediately take shelter.
Due to these restrictions, large school-wide assemblies have mostly been cancelled — traditional celebrations are being held in person only for the graduating Year 9 and Year 11 classes. For other pupils, online assemblies or short class meetings are being organised, and the final decision on the format (in-person, online or a hybrid) is made individually by each school administration.
What’s happening in June
For many schoolchildren, the school year will not end in May, as the first month of summer has been officially set aside for catching up on lost learning, extra lessons, consultations and excursions. Also, from the start of June, day camps for children will begin operating in many communities, particularly in Zhytomyr and Rivne.
For school leavers, this period will be particularly crucial: Year 11 pupils will sit the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) for university admission, and they will receive their educational certificates in stages throughout the month. Meanwhile, for Year 9 pupils, this phase will be less stressful, as they have been officially exempted from sitting the State Final Assessment (SFA) in 2026.
This extended timetable will help pupils not only catch up on material missed due to power cuts and disruptions, but also calmly complete all the bureaucratic and organisational processes before the summer holidays, without undue haste.
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