Attending School in Japan While Studying Only 6 Ukrainian Subjects

Attending school in Japan while also joining a Ukrainian school’s online classes in the evening or at night: some children who came to Japan from Ukraine are keeping up two schools at once. In a survey the Sasakawa Peace Foundation conducted from October 2022 to February 2023, a questionnaire (27 valid responses) sent to households with children aged 15 to 18 among Ukrainian evacuee families that the Nippon Foundation supports with living expenses and the like found that half — 14 — said they were receiving Ukrainian schooling online. International exchange centers in the three cities interviewed for the survey raised concerns about the fatigue of taking classes from morning to night.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science has laid out, on a dedicated information site (ukrainian.studies.mon.gov.ua), the mechanisms for children abroad to continue their Ukrainian education. This article is based on that site, Ukraine’s Law on Complete General Secondary Education, and Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 734 of 2025, as confirmed in September 2026. This article does not judge which path suits a particular child. Please consult the Ukrainian school your child is enrolled in and the Japanese school or board of education.

The “All-Ukrainian Online School” Is a Site for Teaching Materials

First, let’s separate two similarly named things. The “All-Ukrainian Online School” (Всеукраїнська школа онлайн) has the word “school” in its name, but it is not a school where a child enrolls and holds a place. The site itself describes itself as a platform for digital and blended learning for grades 1 through 11 and for supporting teachers’ instruction. It has digital teaching materials in 23 subjects, including Ukrainian language and literature, Ukrainian history, mathematics, biology, physics, and chemistry, and can be used both for taking classes online and for making up units missed at school.

According to the same explanation, this platform was built by the civic organization Osvitoria (Освіторія) at the request of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the state Institute of Educational Development, and receives support from Switzerland. The materials are free to use. Receiving Ukrainian grade-level marks and a certificate of completion, however, requires being enrolled at a Ukrainian school.

Ways of Being Enrolled at a Ukrainian School

Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Law on Complete General Secondary Education lists, as forms of receiving schooling, in-person (day) attendance as well as distance learning, network learning, externship (completing the curriculum through examinations without attending school), and home schooling, among others. When a child abroad is enrolled at a Ukrainian school, it will be through one of these forms. A provision recognizing, through a procedure the Cabinet of Ministers sets, learning outcomes a Ukrainian citizen has achieved abroad was added to the same law by an amendment of February 26, 2025 (Article 6, paragraph 6).

Ukraine’s school system itself (the three stages of 4, 5, and 3 years; the entry age; the three-year final stage starting in 2027) is covered in our article on Ukraine’s 12-year school system.

The Four Paths the Ministry of Education and Science Sets Out

The Ministry of Education and Science’s information site presents four scenarios that families abroad can choose from.

The site explains that the perception that this policy requires “5 to 8 hours of online classes every day” is mistaken, and that families can choose from the four scenarios.

The 6 Subjects in the Ukrainian Studies Component

At the center of Scenarios 1 and 2 is the “Ukrainian studies component” (українознавчий компонент). The Ministry of Education and Science’s site explains that this is an abridged program covering only the subjects not studied at the local school, with the aim of freeing children from a double burden. The 6 subjects studied are as follows.

• Ukrainian language
• Ukrainian literature
• History of Ukraine
• Geography of Ukraine
• Fundamentals of law
• Defense of Ukraine

For the other subjects, the Ukrainian school converts the grades from the local school — that is, the Japanese school — into Ukrainian marks using the Ministry of Education and Science’s “conversion scale.” This means children do not have to study the same subject twice, the site explains. For applying to study online, the site directs families to the citizen portal (citizen.aikom.gov.ua) of the education information system “AIKOM.”

How Grades Are Recognized, Decided in 2025

How outcomes learned abroad are recognized is set out in the procedure of Resolution No. 734, which the Cabinet of Ministers adopted on June 23, 2025. The main points are as follows.

• It covers learning outcomes a Ukrainian citizen has achieved at an educational institution abroad, excluding a country the Verkhovna Rada has recognized as an aggressor or occupying state
• Recognition is granted by the Ukrainian school the child is enrolled at. A parent submits a free-form application with copies of documents showing the outcomes attached; it can be submitted in person on paper or by email
• Grades earned at a school abroad (formal education) are converted to the Ukrainian grading scale and recognized without additional assessment
• The Ukrainian studies component studied at a weekend school or similar confirmed by a committee formed by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is recognized without additional assessment
• Review of the application is completed by the end of grading for that school year’s term

If the documents are not on hand, or if the child studied at an organization that has not been confirmed, the child will take the regular assessment at the Ukrainian school (Procedure, paragraph 6). Having grade reports or similar documents from the Japanese school kept on hand is a prerequisite for having them recognized.

Before Choosing “Everything Online”

Regarding Scenario 4, the Ministry of Education and Science’s site states it can be chosen “where the country of stay does not make school attendance compulsory,” and cites, as a reference, a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (dated August 14, 2025) on compulsory schooling by country.

In Japan, the parents of a foreign-national child are not placed under the compulsory schooling obligation set by the School Education Act (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MEXT], “Guidelines on Promoting School Attendance and Understanding the School Attendance Status of Foreign Children,” July 1, 2020). On that basis, MEXT requires municipal boards of education to inform families that foreign-national children can also enroll in public elementary and junior high schools. The procedure for enrolling in a Japanese school is summarized in our article on preparing before enrolling in a Japanese school.

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s survey also notes concerns raised about students taking only online classes having no opportunity for actual interaction with children their own age.

How to Balance It With a Japanese School

A notice issued on April 18, 2022, by the MEXT Vice-Minister on accepting children from Ukraine asks schools to provide Japanese-language instruction and give consideration to children’s physical and mental condition, but it says nothing about balancing this with a Ukrainian school’s online classes. How to balance the two is a matter for the family and the Japanese school to discuss individually.

Useful material for this discussion is the Ukrainian school’s timetable — which subjects, how many hours a week, and starting at what time — and the time difference between Japan and Ukraine. Narrowing the subjects, as in Scenario 1, reduces the hours of class time on the Ukrainian side compared with taking the full curriculum.

If You Are Thinking About University Entrance Exams

To go on to a Ukrainian university, students take the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT). The Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Assessment announced that it would set up temporary overseas testing sites for the 2026 NMT in 54 cities across 32 countries, but Japan was not included in the list of countries holding the main exam. The exam system is covered in our article on Ukraine’s 12-year school system.

What to Check Before Consulting

• Which Ukrainian school the child is currently enrolled at, and in what form (distance learning, home schooling, externship, etc.)
• Whether to continue the full curriculum or narrow it to the 6 Ukrainian studies subjects (with the Ukrainian school of enrollment)
• What documents are needed to have the Japanese school’s grades converted (with the Ukrainian school of enrollment)
• How the timing of Ukrainian classes overlaps with the Japanese school’s timetable (with the Japanese school)
• Whether Japanese-language instruction is available at the Japanese school (with the board of education)

The Ministry of Education and Science’s site lists, as a contact point, the government contact center number 1545 (select 5 in the voice menu). The mechanisms described here were confirmed in September 2026; Ukraine’s education system is often revised under martial law, so please check the latest guidance before starting any procedure.