Recently, MP Natalia Pipa reported that the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education and Science recommended that the production and presentation of gold and silver medals of the state standard be cancelled in schools. The committee believes that it is inappropriate to centrally produce medals at the expense of the state budget. According to her, the budget for the next year initially included a request for almost UAH 4.6 million for gold medals. And more than UAH 1 million for silver medals.
In response to the request [Kommersant] the Ministry of Education reported that over the past 10 years, the state-owned enterprise Inforesource has supplied more than 150,000 medals to education authorities.
“Over the past 10 years, the company (Inforesource – ed.) has supplied 162,202 medals to educational authorities, and over the past 3 years – 66741 medals,” the Ministry of Education said.
They noted that in 2024, the medals were supplied to Inforesource by GARANT & PARTNERS Limited Liability Company.
According to the relevant ministry, the mechanism for awarding students for academic achievements is determined by the Regulations on the Gold Medal “For High Achievement in Education” and the Silver Medal “For Achievement in Education”, approved by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine of 17 March 2015.
“The gold medal (…) is made of L-63 brass, 3 mm thick, by double-sided stamping with subsequent electropolishing. It contains a durable protective and decorative surface layer with a gilding electroplating applied by the method of multilayer coating of the project metals: copper – 8 microns; nickel – 8 microns; gold – 0.3 microns.
The silver medal (…) is made of L-63 brass, 3 mm thick, by double-sided stamping with subsequent electropolishing. It contains a durable protective and decorative surface layer with a silver electroplated coating applied by the method of multilayer coating of design metals: copper – 16 microns; nickel – 16 microns,” the company said in response to the request.
We would like to add that in recent years, medals have not been given any advantages when applying to universities. Previously, gold and silver medals provided advantages when applying to higher education institutions, but now they are only relevant when applying to vocational education institutions.