Monastery school scandal prompts education inspections in Ukraine
The State Service for Education Quality of Ukraine (SSEQU) has begun inspections of two schools – a private lyceum in the Kyiv region and a school run by the Kostiantynivka Town Council in the Donetsk region – over the formal enrollment of children who were in fact studying at a school operating at a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate, UOC-MP) monastery.
The SSEQU will also check information about similar cases in the Sumy region and in Cherkasy. This was stated by Ruslan Hurak, Head of the State Service for Education Quality, in a comment to Ukrinform.
“The SSEQU has issued orders to inspect the schools mentioned in the Slidstvo.Info investigation (namely, the Rancho.School private lyceum in the Kyiv region and the Educational Complex ‘General Secondary School – Preschool Educational Institution’ of the Kostiantynivka Town Council in the Donetsk region – ed.). As of today, we have begun inspections by collecting all information, all details, and everything related to these educational institutions,” Hurak said.
He noted that the school in the town of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region is indeed registered and operates in a distance-learning format. “Teachers are located in different places, and the school principal as well. We have already located the school principal, and starting tomorrow we will begin inspections at this school as well,” Hurak emphasized.
As for possible consequences for these schools, the head of the SSEQU said that the inspections are expected to confirm or refute information about the formal enrollment of children in these institutions.
“It is important for us to verify the fact of enrollment of these children – whether they actually attended this school or studied elsewhere. Second, we will examine how the educational process is organized not only for these children, but for all participants in the educational process. Third, we will check a very important issue raised in the investigation – the issue of payments and reimbursement of funds from the state budget (the educational subvention allocated to schools – ed.). Once all these facts are confirmed or disproved, we will provide a legal assessment of the actions of school principals, school founders, and education management bodies,” Hurak said.
Regarding potential consequences, he noted that the SSEQU will also pay attention to compliance with licensing requirements during the inspections. Therefore, one possible outcome could be the revocation of an educational institution’s license to conduct educational activities.
“I believe there may also be other legal grounds, including criminal liability for the violations that everyone has heard about. We are working jointly with the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office. I think each authority will draw its own conclusions, and there will be appropriate results,” he stressed.
According to Hurak, two inspection teams are currently working, and the results of these inspections may be available by the end of next week.
Hurak also said that previously the service had not encountered such cases where children were formally enrolled in one institution but in reality, studied at another.
However, he noted that the SSEQU does have mechanisms to respond to such situations, including scheduled and unscheduled inspections of schools, which can be initiated if there is sufficient information.
At the same time, he reported that the SSEQU had recently received information from journalists about similar cases in the Sumy region and in Cherkasy, including reports of children being taught the Russian language, using Soviet-era textbooks, and similar practices.
“We are currently reviewing these facts – whether these institutions qualify as schools in the classical sense, whether they had licenses, or whether they are entities that have no relation to the educational process. Once we draw our conclusions, it will become clear whether this falls within the authority of the SSEQU to conduct inspections, or whether it is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies, including the Security Service of Ukraine, if these institutions are engaged in activities aimed at undermining Ukraine’s statehood, glorifying the aggressor state, or using its symbols,” Hurak emphasized.
As Hurak recalled, under the Law on General Secondary Education, every school – municipal, state, or private – is required to undergo an institutional audit once every ten years. These are scheduled measures. Unscheduled inspections, he said, are possible in response to citizens’ complaints.
“Another option is monitoring studies. In fact, I have instructed all our territorial divisions to collect all information – any appeals, any media reports in each region – about similar cases, so that we can study this issue comprehensively and make decisions not just regarding one or two educational institutions, but as part of systematic work across the entire territory of Ukraine,” Hurak added.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, Slidstvo.Info published an investigation into an underground school operating at the UOC-MP Holosiivskyi monastery in Kyiv, where children are taught with Soviet-era textbooks, shown Russian films, and taught Russian songs. Although the school’s principal refers to it as a “family club,” it operates like a regular school, where children study five days a week from 9:00 to 14:00, and there is an extended-day group.
Investigators from the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and Kyiv region have launched a pretrial investigation based on the facts published by Slidstvo.Info journalists.
Photo: Slidstvo.Info