The Education Ombudsman asks the Ministry of Education and Science to cancel paid competitions

Educational ombudsman service under the leadership of Nadiya Leshchyk turned to to the Ministry of Education and Science with the initiative to cancel the orders providing for the holding of paid competitions. This step should be the first step in restoring academic freedom and reducing the burden on teachers.

“The educational ombudsman started working on restoring academic freedom and reducing the overload of teaching staff in educational institutions. The first step in this direction is to reduce the number of activities for teaching staff and students of education and the compulsion to participate in these activities.” – the message says.

According to Nadiya Leshchyk, the service receives numerous complaints in which teachers report pressure from the management of institutions and education management bodies to hold or participate in various events, especially competitions.

In addition, educators, students, and parents are often required to report their participation in such events through the provision of certificates or the publication of content on social networks.

“Participation in such events is taken into account, in particular, when compiling the so-called ratings of educational institutions in communities, regions and in Ukraine as a whole. But this violates the right of pedagogical workers to academic freedom and overloads them.”, the service emphasized.