The competition for school principals in Kyiv will take place without the participation of students' parents or members of the public
The Department of Education and Science of the Kyiv City State Administration has approved the membership of the selection committees for appointing heads of educational institutions in all districts of Kyiv. The selection committees, whose work was recently resumed by a decision of the Kyiv City Council, consist solely of officials from district education departments and members of the Kyiv City Council. There are no representatives at all from civil society organizations, parent groups, education experts, or the independent civil society sector.
Social media reports indicate that the commissions include:
- Svitlana Panko—head of the Education Department of the Solomyanskyi District State Administration. The National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK) has filed a report against her, and an administrative case related to a corruption offense is currently pending in court. The existence of a case does not yet imply proven guilt, but a logical question arises: is it appropriate to involve such an official in assessing the integrity and professionalism of future school principals?
- Oleksiy Sukennikov is the head of the Education Department of the Sviatoshyn District State Administration, against whom law enforcement agencies have reported more than five allegations and indictments at various times. The final assessment of each case must be made by the court; however, his inclusion on the selection committee also raises serious questions regarding the reputational criteria for such a selection process.
This was reported by civic activist Oleksiy Ksenich.
“I also submitted an application to be included on the selection committee. The Kyiv City State Administration’s Department of Education and Science simply ignored it—without proper consideration or a reasoned response. Therefore, the next step will be to file a lawsuit. I will demand a legal assessment of the Department’s actions and ensure genuine—rather than merely declarative—transparency in the competitions. Kyiv school principals should not be selected behind closed doors,” the civic activist wrote.
As a reminder, in early November, the capital announced a large-scale competition for the positions of principals of schools, lyceums, and gymnasiums that are municipally owned by Kyiv.
The public organization “Union of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions of Ukraine” officially appealed to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, requesting a review of the minimum competitive score required for admission to a number of popular majors.
The results of two more sessions of the National Multidisciplinary Test (NMT) have been published in students’ personal accounts.
