Ruslan Stefanchuk: Education is the thing that will save Ukraine and give it the opportunity to be confident in its future
04 April 2023, 16:00
This and other issues were discussed during a meeting between the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk and students of political science and history at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
The meeting was held in a question-and-answer format, so the students had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the work of the country’s only legislative body.
In particular, the young people were interested in the activities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and its impact on the country’s state policy, the development of the state after the war, Ukraine’s accession to NATO and progress towards the EU, etc.
The future of education and ways to strengthen it were, of course, among the top topics of discussion. In the words of the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament, “education is a distinctive feature of Ukrainians”. And today, during the full-scale war, Ukrainians are once again demonstrating to the world that “education and creativity are very important for the future development of any system”.
At the same time, the participants of the meeting did not ignore the problems of the educational sector, in particular, they discussed not only insufficient funding, but also new approaches to teaching at universities and schools, improving the methodological component, practical implementation of the education received, encouraging pupils and students to acquire knowledge and strive to be an educated person, introducing sustainable learning of foreign languages as “one of the ways to get rid of russia”, and so on.
“Once again, I emphasise that education is the thing that will save Ukraine and give it the opportunity to be confident in its future,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
One of the important topics of the conversation was Ukraine’s accession to NATO, given that the meeting took place on the anniversary of the Alliance’s founding. The students were interested in the real prospects of our country in the organisation, as well as aspects of strengthening cooperation with NATO member states.
The Chairman of the Parliament of Ukraine stressed that Ukraine is already a de facto member of the Alliance, because our Armed Forces are trained to NATO standards, defend with NATO weapons, while upholding NATO principles and values.
“Today, the Ukrainian army and the Armed Forces are performing a mission that is de facto entrusted to NATO. To make this de jure, we need appropriate legal decisions. We encourage our foreign colleagues to make these decisions. The application for accelerated accession to the Alliance is one of these steps,” explained Ruslan Stefanchuk.
According to him, we have already demonstrated our ability to be a full member of this organisation.
“Ukraine has the most capable and experienced army on the European continent. Therefore, I do not see any prerequisites to deny Ukraine its aspiration to use the “open door” policy and join NATO. The only question is the political will of the member states of the Alliance,” the Chairman of the Parliament of Ukraine stressed.
In addition, the students were keenly interested in the development of inter-parliamentary diplomacy, the work of permanent parliamentary delegations and friendship groups with other countries. They were especially concerned about the future of peace, the aggressor’s responsibility for the bloody war, and the implementation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s peace formula at the international level.
“Of course, the first and foremost thing is victory on the battlefield. This should be followed by russia’s legal responsibility under all the canons of international law and compensation by the aggressor for all the damage caused. And the third component is President Zelenskyi’s ten-point peace formula. All of this together is a formula for complete victory. And peace can only be the result of Ukraine’s victory!” the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament stressed.
In the end of the meeting, Ruslan Stefanchuk called on the students to communicate and cooperate with the Parliament through the Educational Centre of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, various parliamentary programmes and internship programmes to work together on their future and the future of the whole country.
“From now on, the country will be yours and you will be responsible for it. Therefore, it is important that you are involved in the processes of its development and life. After our victory, we will have to rethink the philosophy of the country’s existence. We all have to ask ourselves: how should Ukraine of the future look like? And these are new challenges that we are absolutely ready for, primarily because we have such fantastic young people who want to live in this country and associate themselves only with it,” the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed.