Initiatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, supported by the government, are increasingly being challenged in court, and bills aimed at the so-called reorganization of vocational education lead to a catastrophic shortage of professional personnel in the technical and engineering fields, noted postgraduate student, head of the charitable organization Change Our Lives Charitable Foundation Roman Serhienko.
“Graduate students and higher education institutions are forced to defend their legal and constitutional rights and freedoms in court due to another attempt by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to reorganize educational processes and educational institutions, reduce the number of universities and introduce additional control measures not provided for by laws and the Constitution of Ukraine, which leads to a violation of the constitutional rights and freedoms of teachers, children and young people – in that part of them that cannot be limited during the legal regime of martial law, in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine,” Serhienko noted during a press conference entitled “Initiatives of the Ministry of Education and Their Consequences” at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Friday.
He noted that the changes adopted by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 8, No. 426, allow the Ministry of Education to amend the Procedure for the preparation of applicants for higher education for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Science in higher education institutions with the possibility of expelling postgraduate students, despite the successful fulfillment of the requirements of the individual postgraduate plan, the fulfillment of the educational and scientific component.
“According to the response letters of the Ministry of Education and Science No. 1/8845-24 dated May 20, 2024 and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine No. 81631/C – 18859/7.2.4 dated May 31, 2024, these initiatives did not undergo legal and anti-discrimination examination of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and were returned by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to the Ministry of Education, as indicated in the response to the lawyer’s request No. 1/16685-24 dated September 13, 2024 signed by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Mr. Vinnytsky,” Serhienko’s press release for the press conference says.
It is also reported that, in addition to teachers, deputies of Ukraine are also against such a reorganization of education, having organized a collection of signatures in parliament for a collective appeal to the Prime Minister of Ukraine to cancel “changes that are aimed at depriving citizens of Ukraine of their constitutional rights and freedoms.”
Participants in the press conference call for a ban on the reorganization and liquidation of educational institutions for a period of three years after the end of the war/martial law, a ban on the leasing of educational institutions as a single property complex, a ban on the sale of the property of an educational institution, a change in the conditions of the competition for the position of head of an educational institution and the introduction of restrictions on the term of his tenure in office.
The event was also attended by head of the Council of Higher Education Applicants, Doctor of Philosophy of the National Technical University Dnipro Polytechnic Yelyzaveta Bodriaho, teacher of professional and theoretical training of the State Educational Institution “Higher Vocational School No. 8 in Stryi” Anatoliy Kryvosheyev, head of the legal department of the Taurida National University named after V.I. Vernadsky, Vadym Rykov.
