# Summary to the Decision No. 5-rp/2004 of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine as of March 4, 2004

The grounds for the examination of the case was the constitutional petition of the People's Deputies of Ukraine who applied to the Constitutional Court for the official interpretation of the provisions laid down in Article 53.3 of the Constitution on ensuring the accessibility and gratuitousness of preschool, complete general secondary, vocational, higher education in the state and municipal educational institutions. The system analysis of the provisions laid down in the Constitution, which use the term "accessibility", gives reason to conclude that the concept of "accessibility of education" in the third part of Article 53 of the Constitution means ensuring by the state of the opportunity to exercise the right of individuals for education. Analyzing the provisions laid down in the articles of the Fundamental law, the Court came to the conclusion that "gratuitousness" indicated in the provisions laid down in Article 53.3 of the Constitution for the levels of education in the state and municipal educational institutions shall be understood as an opportunity to obtain education in these institutions without payment, i.e. without making payment in any form for educational services, in accordance with the state standard within the limits of those education types which gratuitousness is specified in these provisions. Ensuring gratuitousness of education at all levels is one of the guarantees of the accessibility thereof. The Constitutional Court finds that the provision of accessibility and gratuitousness of preschool education is assigned to the state only to the extent related to educational institutions of state and municipal ownership forms (Article 53.3 of the Constitution). In accordance with Article 3.2 of the Law "On the preschool education" the state only renders assistance to the development and preservation of the preschool educational institution networks of other forms of ownership. Proceeding from the fact that gratuitousness and accessibility of the complete general secondary education in the state and municipal educational institutions are related with the compulsion thereof, the state should finance in the full amount the process of educating the students within the scope of the State standard of general secondary education. As per the Constitution (Article 43.2) the state provides conditions for training of the staff in fundamental areas in accordance with the public needs for whose satisfaction the Law on the State Budget of Ukraine shall exclusively set forth any budget costs of the state (Article 95.2). Proceeding from public needs and the amount of the budget allocations specified in the Law on the State Budget of Ukraine, the public order of training the specialists in higher education in the areas and fields of the relevant levels of instruction and qualification shall be formed. Training specialists in higher education in the areas and fields of relevant levels of instruction and qualification in higher educational institutions of state and municipal forms of ownership may also be implemented for the account of other sources of financing not prohibited by the law, which are an additional means to acquiring and providing the right to higher education. The legislation of Ukraine determined that higher educational institutions may enroll students within the limits of the numbers stipulated by the license in excess of the specified amount financed for the account of budget funds with payment of the costs of training on a contractual basis.