During the briefing in the Parliament on Friday, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that last year Ukraine was living in the mythological system, where Minister of Education and Science, Youth and Sport Dmytro Tabachnyk had his own pro-Russian stand in the sphere of social policy, while Viktor Yanukovych, President of Ukraine, had a different is pro-Ukrainian position. "Today this myth was destroyed", M. Tomenko emphasized, commenting upon the report of D. Tabachnyk in the Parliament. The minister quoted the President of Ukraine, and since Viktor Yanukovych does not comment on the situation in the educational sector, it means that "everything that D. Tabachnyk does, meets the thoughts of V. Yanukovych."
According to M. Tomenko, the President should declare that he rejects all his election pledges in the part of education policy. M. Tomenko reminded, "As a candidate for presidency, Viktor Yanukovych promised to provide 75% of the governmental order, whereas today it is being reduced." "As a candidate for presidency, Viktor Yanukovych promised not to close 2 thousand schools, while today we do not hear his objections against the mass closure of schools", Deputy Chairman stressed.
M. Tomenko announced that he had registered the bill on amendments to clause 11 of the Law of Ukraine "On Compulsory Secondary Education" (regarding reorganization of general education institutions) to broaden the concept "by agreement with the territorial community." The bill states that reorganization or liquidation of comprehensive education institutions, formed as a communal property, is allowed only by agreement with the territorial community or on the basis of the local referendum. M. Tomenko expects the bill to solve the critical situation in the sphere.
Discussing the cut down on the number of higher education establishments and their merger, the Deputy Chairman admitted the problem that metallurgical higher education establishments rendered educational services for the future lawyers and economists, while aviation colleges trained linguists. However, "It has nothing in common with the artificial merger of technical higher education establishments with the universities, which was stopped by our common efforts."
Mykola Tomenko stressed that he was worried about the situation in the educational sector, as "everything done in this sphere seems to be a general line of the President of Ukraine, as he does not deny it."