Four years lagging behind: who will be held accountable for education outcomes in Mykolaiv region?

Mykolaiv Oblast took last, 24th place out of 24, in the ranking of Ukraine’s regions based on the results of the national multi-subject test 2026. The ranking, published on 2 September 2026, was compiled by the educational resource “Osvita.ua” based on official statistics from the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment.

The average result of school graduates in Mykolaiv Oblast was 129.36 points. The ranking included results of 3,364 students from 195 schools, who completed a total of 13 040 tests. The “passed/failed” threshold was overcome in 94% of tests.

The ranking was headed by Lviv Oblast with an average score of 139.77 points. Second place went to Kyiv Oblast — 136.74 points, third — Volyn Oblast with 135.98 points.

The difference between Lviv Oblast and Mykolaiv Oblast is 10.41 points. From the penultimate Zakarpattia Oblast, which received 130.30 points, Mykolaiv fell behind by 0.94 points.

Among the southern regions the best result was shown by Kherson Oblast — 15th place and 132.75 points. Odesa Oblast took 21st place with 131.20 points, Zaporizhzhia Oblast — 22nd place and 131.01 points.

Mykolaiv remains at the tail for more than one year

Comparison of the “Osvita.ua” rankings shows that the oblast has not risen above 22nd place at any time during the past four years.

Compared with 2025, the oblast’s average result decreased by 2.37 points, and the share of successfully passed tests fell from 95% to 94%. At the same time, the number of participants increased by 170 people, and the number of tests taken increased by 692.

Thus, the slight improvement in 2025, when the oblast moved from last to penultimate place, could not be consolidated. In 2026 Mykolaiv Oblast again returned to the bottom of the table.

At the same time, direct comparison of average scores across all years should be done cautiously. In 2023 the NMT contained three subject blocks, and since 2024 graduates have taken Ukrainian language, mathematics, history of Ukraine and one additional elective subject. Tasks and their difficulty levels also change every year. Nevertheless, the oblast’s positions show a persistent negative trend.

What the ranking actually takes into account

The ranking took into account the results of school graduates of 2026. Participants from previous years who retook the NMT were not included in the calculation.

The indicator “passed (%)” means the share of individual tests in which participants exceeded the established threshold. It should not be confused with the number of graduates who successfully passed all four subjects.

According to “Osvita.ua” methodology, failed tests are assigned a value of 0 when calculating the average result, while absences from testing are not counted. Therefore the figure 129.36 points is not the average result of only successfully passed tests.

Overall, 324,003 applicants took part in the main sessions of the NMT 2026 and received results. The threshold for all four subjects was overcome by 275,934 participants, or 85.09%. In 2025 it was 86.47%, and in 2024 — 85.60%, reported the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment.

Mykolaiv also ranked last among regional centers

The negative situation is observed not only in the oblast. In the ranking of regional centers Mykolaiv took last, 22nd place out of 22 cities presented in the table.

The average result of graduates of city institutions was 136.29 points — 6.93 points higher than the oblast-wide figure. NMT was taken by 2,526 students from 60 institutions, who completed 9,808 tests. 96% of tests were successfully passed.

At the same time, the oblast’s last place does not mean that all local institutions showed weak results. In the “Osvita.ua” ranking the best in Mykolaiv were:

• Mykolaiv Lyceum named after Professor M. Aleksandrov — 156.5 points, 181st place in Ukraine;
• Mykolaiv Lyceum No.41 — 153.8 points, 277th place;
• Mykolaiv Lyceum No.22 — 151.5 points, 400th place;
• Mykolaiv Lyceum No.58 from the Korablenyi District — 151.1 points, 411th place.

Lyceum No.58 rose in the “Osvita.ua” ranking during the year from 8th to 4th place in Mykolaiv, and in the national list — from 911th to 411th place. Its average result increased from 146.4 to 151.1 points.

These positions differ from the previously published Education.ua ranking, where Lyceum No.58 became third in Mykolaiv. This is not an error: the resources use different counting algorithms.

War has an impact, but does not explain everything

The authors of the ranking emphasize that the results were formed during the war. Some children left for other regions or abroad, continuing to study remotely at their schools. Testing was also interrupted because of air raid alerts.

Therefore the ranking cannot be considered a complete assessment of the work of each school or an individual teacher. Results are also affected by student migration, remote learning, access to tutors, the number of participants and security conditions.

However, explaining the last place solely by the war is insufficient. The frontline Donetsk Oblast took 8th place, Sumy Oblast — 9th, and the partially occupied Kherson Oblast — 15th. The sustained presence of Mykolaiv Oblast in 22nd–24th places over four years now requires a separate explanation from the regional education administration and analysis of results by subjects, communities and forms of education.

Earlier we wrote:

• NMT-2026 showed divergence: Lyceum No.58 in the top, No.40 and Olzhych-named lyceum — significantly lower
• Four graduates of the lyceum from the Korablenyi district scored 200 points each on the NMT
• NMT-2026: almost 48 thousand applicants failed to cope with at least one subject
• Why aren’t our children leaders? Lyceums of the Korablenyi district failed the oblast ranking in NMT-2025
• Water is dirty, education is weak: what else is Mykolaiv “famous” for?