Everything for the war: Ukraine continues to reduce spending on education in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

In Ukraine, military spending is again going to be replenished by reducing funding for the educational sector. Thus, a group of people's deputies from the Servant of the People faction registered a bill № 7477 called "On the suspension of procedures for awarding awards in the field of education in 2022".

Among the authors of the bill is the head of the committee on education and science Sergei Babak, as well as a number of other deputies from the presidential party and one member of Golos.

bill offered abolish the following bonuses for educators:

• the award of the Verkhovna Rada to paragogic workers of institutions of preschool, general secondary, vocational (vocational) education and preschool education;
• BP award to the best participants in external independent testing based on the results of completing secondary education.

В explanatory note to the bill it is noted that it was developed with the aim of directing all resources "for the implementation of measures to repel the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the defense of the state". It also emphasizes that the draft law does not require coordination with the interested authorities and does not need to be consulted with the public.

Expected that thanks to the abolition of bonuses for teachers and the best students, the budget will be able to save UAH 11 million.

Recall that the decision to award awards to educators and the best participants in external independent testing was made by BP at the end of 2021. The following awards were planned for 2022:

• 30 best students based on the results of external independent testing - 100 thousand hryvnia each;
• 30 best teachers - UAH 136 thousand each.

In the field of education - problems with the payment of salaries

Educational Ombudsman Sergey Gorbachev опубликовал an open appeal to authorities at all levels with a request to eliminate the violation of the rights regarding the payment of salaries to educational workers.

According to him, since the beginning of the war, the Educational Ombudsman Service has received many requests from educational workers regarding the following problems:

• non-payment of wages;
• forced leave at their own expense;
• temporary suspension of employment contracts;
• refusal to pay aid for recovery, etc.

As of June 20, 2022, since February 24, 297 complaints about violation of the rights to pay wages have been received, of which 241 complaints are about non-payment of wages. This is despite the fact that of all those whose rights are violated, as a rule, only a small percentage of people complain. Most requests were received from the following regions:

• Donetsk region - 33;
• Kharkiv - 30;
• the city of Kyiv - 29;
• Kherson - 27;
• Luhansk - 17.

Also received 56 applications for forced leave without pay. The largest number of appeals on this issue came from Kyiv - 7, Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava regions - 5, and also from the Donetsk region - 4 appeals. Many of these reports come from educators who are abroad or who have become internally displaced persons.

According to Gorbachev, the main reason for what was happening was the war, as well as reducing the state subvention to finance the salaries of education workers by 10%. Recall that corresponding decision will operate from June to December 2022. UAH 10,8 billion was attracted to the budget in this way. The document notes that this will lead to underfunding of teachers' salaries by an average of 17% per month. The reduction in the volume of wages was mainly carried out by reducing additional payments and allowances.

Recall that in early June it became known that 10 thousand Ukrainian teachers cannot get their money. That is, the situation in the field of education is very difficult, and it could have worsened due to the fact that back in April The Cabinet of Ministers increased spending on the war by reducing spending on the social sphere, education and science.

We also explained how to get your money back if you don't get paid.

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