Ministries are the heart of public administration, where the best and most experienced professionals with high moral qualities should work. It is especially important that the Ministry of Education and Science itself be an example of professionalism and ethics, because the future of our children and the country depends on its decisions. However, the reality is often different. Minister Oksen Lisovyi and his deputy Mykhailo Vynnytskyi have repeatedly fallen into scandals, their statements have caused a wave of indignation, and attempts to implement reforms seem far from the real needs of education.
Mykhailo Vynnytskyi is at the center of criticism and mistrust
One such incident occurred recently, when Deputy Minister of Education Mykhailo Vynnytskyi compared Ukrainian scientists and students in Poland to homeless people at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk, devoted to the issue of Ukrainians staying abroad. The words that came from the top official caused outrage and became an occasion for serious discussions about the competence and morality of those who manage our education.
At that meeting, Vynnytskyi said:
“If a citizen of Ukraine works in a Polish school, he is simply a citizen of Ukraine who is abroad. He is not a teacher, he is not a student. What a citizen of Ukraine does abroad is not a matter for the Ukrainian state. She does not ask if he is a student, if he is homeless there, or if he works.”
Such a statement caused an immediate reaction from Iryna Vereshchuk, who publicly condemned Vynnytskyi for such words.
“Sir, Mykhailo, what are you saying? Stop because it looks worthless”, – urged Vereshchuk.
This incident brought to the surface a number of other problems related to the behavior and decisions of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The docent of the Department of Linguistics of the Institute of Slavic Studies named after Vynnytskyi was the first to report the scandalous words. Pavlo Levchuk of the Polish Academy of Sciences in his post on Facebook. He expressed his indignation at the fact that the deputy minister compared Ukrainian scientists to homeless people.
“I wouldn’t have written these words, but today I heard words that touched me personally and I think it’s worth writing about. Today, Deputy Minister – Mr. Mykhailo Vynnytskyi – said the following words that regardless of whether students from Ukraine in Poland, teachers in schools and scientists study or are homeless, for Ukraine they are not students, teachers and scientists. I don’t know why scientists were compared to homeless people.
Maybe we don’t look good, maybe we should have worn a formal suit, although the gentleman himself was in a shirt. But, let’s get to the point… The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education and Culture called us bums. I asked if now I should give up membership in the editorial boards of Ukrainian specialized publications, stop accepting scholarship holders from Ukraine, stop teaching Ukrainian children, stop conducting Ukraińskie wtorki, if we are bums for this state. Mr. Deputy tried to answer something, but he was justly interrupted by Mrs. Prime Minister, Mr. took offense and turned off.” Levchuk said.
However, despite such a high-profile scandal, it seems incomprehensible that the leadership of the Cabinet of Ministers does not seem to pay attention to the behavior and statements of the Deputy Minister of Education.
Who are Oksen Lisovyi and Mykhailo Vynnytskyi?
According to the Ministry of Education and Science, Lisovyi worked as a teacher at the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium, a fencing coach at the Sich youth organization, and held a managerial position at the general directorate of Ukrtelecom. In 2004, he headed the Small Academy of Sciences (MAN) — a state organization engaged in extracurricular education and conducting Olympiads among schoolchildren.
Oksen Lisovyi often finds himself in the center of attention due to scandals. One of the most high-profile scandals occurred when his PhD thesis was accused of plagiarism. Independent experts found numerous borrowings in his work without proper reference to the sources. This caused a wave of criticism in academic circles and called into question his scientific reputation. Despite the fact that Lisovyi denied the accusations, claiming that all the loans were processed properly, the scandal significantly undermined his authority. As a result, Lisovyi refused the scientific degree of candidate of sciences.
Another scandal arose recently in the midst of the graduate school admissions campaign. Oksen Lisovyi announced that there will be no contract form of education this year. This statement was made in the evening of the day when the first entrants took the entrance exam, which meant changing the rules of the game already during its conduct.
Mykhailo Vynnytskyi, deputy of Oksen Lisovoy, was born in the city of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in a family of active representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora. For more than 40 years, he actively participated in the activities of the Plast organization (an organization that is actively criticized), where he was an educator and organizer of summer camps for novices and youth.
He has experience in the field of sales and consulting on issues of organizational development for many Ukrainian companies. In the past, Vynnytskyi managed the secretariat of the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher Education (2019-2022) and taught at the Lviv Business School of the Ukrainian Catholic University. From May 19, 2023, he holds the position of Deputy Minister of Education and Science.
It is indicative that Vinnytsia is a nominee of the anti-prize “Academic Dishonesty” in the “Posipak of the Year 2023” nomination.
It is known that he has dual citizenship – Ukrainian and Canadian. In the past, he got into scandals because of his statements, in particular, regarding the need to reduce the number of higher education institutions in Ukraine by three. In addition, while working in the secretariat of the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher Education, Vinnytskyi employed his wife and gave her a bonus. NASK found signs of corruption violations in his actions, and the court found him guilty, but the case was later closed.
Implications for the field of education
Considering all these facts, the question arises: why do people with such a dubious reputation occupy key positions in the Ministry of Education and Science? What are the consequences of their decisions and statements for the Ukrainian education system, our children, youth and scientists?
The scandalous actions and statements of the heads of the Ministry of Education and Culture may have serious consequences for the entire system of education and science in Ukraine, and they are already manifesting themselves. The Ministry of Education and Culture’s plan to transfer children to offline education during the war is already causing outrage among parents, who believe that such changes expose them to additional danger and create significant difficulties in ensuring security.
Scandals and controversial decisions of the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science can have long-term negative consequences for the educational system of Ukraine as a whole, because they undermine trust in those who should be a model of competence and morality. When ministry leaders allow abusive language and rash actions, it creates an atmosphere of instability and insecurity in the educational environment.
First, such actions demoralize teachers and lecturers who work daily on the development and education of the younger generation. Teachers, scientists and students who deserve respect and support, feel devalued and not supported by the state, may lose motivation to work, which will negatively affect the quality of education. The loss of professional satisfaction and a sense of the significance of one’s work can lead to an outflow of personnel from the educational sphere, which will further intensify the crisis.
Secondly, every offensive word, every thoughtless step of the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Culture resonates in the hearts of those who believed in changes for the better. The scientific community is already expressing its indignation about the innovation in 2024 regarding admission to postgraduate studies, which it considers illegal and killing modern Ukrainian science. Such scandals can scare young people away from choosing a professional path in science and education. If students see that their scientific achievements and efforts are not appreciated, and they themselves can be compared to the homeless, they may lose the desire to develop in this field. This can lead to an outflow of young talent abroad, where their knowledge and skills will be more in demand and respected. And these are not just losses for individuals, these are losses for the entire country, which may be left without the intellectual potential necessary for its development.
Thirdly, mistrust of the ministry’s leadership can reduce the support of the public and investors, both internal and external, for the development of educational projects and reforms. Investors and international partners may question the feasibility of investing resources in a system that is in a state of crisis and run by people whose competence is questionable.
After all, such scandals harm Ukraine’s reputation in the international arena. The education system is one of the key aspects of the country’s image, and when senior officials make mistakes and rash statements, it negatively affects how Ukraine is perceived in the world. This could have far-reaching implications for international cooperation in education, science and technology.
