On October, 17 the first session of the Public Advisory Council on education of the UKROP party was launched. It is an advisory body of the party that involves MPs, deputies of local councils from UKROP – members of the specialized educational committees, party members who are specialists in education. Creation of the Public Advisory Council on education was initiated by the MP from UKROP Iryna Konstankevych in order to ensure alternative work on the bills and to convey the real needs of people in the regions to the lawmakers, who work in their offices.
The MP has stressed that the Council must have impact on the development of education. “This is an informational and analytical body that affects the educational environment in Ukraine. If certain laws are not in line with our vision, we will not vote for them,” explained Iryna Konstankevych.
“The Council will form the position of the party in society and will present the public opinion at the level of political council and presidium of the party. The Council will prepare materials for the general party forums,” said the head of department on organizational and methodological support of the UKROP party Iryna Synyavska. Such councils and forums can provide social lifts, as the UKROP party intends to come to power with a strong team of experts, she said.
22 delegates from different regions of Ukraine participate in the meeting, among them are lawyers, representatives of higher educational institutions, schools and public organizations. In particular, during today’s meeting, the members of the Council discussed the draft law “On education”, which is being prepared for the second reading in Parliament.
Iryna Konstankevych has emphasized that the draft law has some positive provisions, but under conditions of Ukraine’s budget deficit and significant debt to education, its implementation faces some problems. “Financing of this draft law is quite ephemeral. For its implementation 188 billion hryvnias are needed. Given that the budget is full of holes, and there are significant debts to education (for example, a debt to secondary education is 1.9 billion hryvnias), we cannot say that we enter into the process of reforms,” said the MP.
Following the discussion participants of the Council will elaborate their propositions on the draft law that will be compiled and submitted to the profile committee. In addition, it is expected that tomorrow the First Deputy Minister of Education of Ukraine Volodymyr Kovtunets will participate in the meeting of the Council and he will tell about the concept of the new Ukrainian school.
The Council is expected to be a permanent body that will function through 2-day sessions, which will be held once per quarter.
Reference. Public Advisory Council on education of the UKROP party is created in order to bring together deputies of the local councils and activists – specialists in education – for elaborating propositions to update legislation on education; support decentralization of education in the regions, provide public assessment of certain laws and hold public hearings before submitting to Parliament. In addition, it aims to facilitate exchange of experiences between experts and party regional educational networks.
