MP: Parliament made a step towards desovietization of education

Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Spirituality, MP Victor Yelenskyy called the adoption of the Law "On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regulating the establishment of educational institutions by religious organizations" by the Parliament is an important step in the process of desovietization of the Ukrainian education and a fundamental event in provision of the freedom of conscience in Ukraine.

“The right to establish secondary schools, which is given to religious organizations, means that the legislature committed the unique situation in Europe, as no EU countries prohibit churches to open public schools and universities. Even more: the quality of education offered by, for example, Catholic universities, is very high,” he said

The politician also said that the Parliament listened to the arguments of those parents who have the right to determine what kind of education they wish to give their children.

“Religious organizations have fought for this right for over two decades. They, as well as human rights activists and experts in the field of religious freedom, have had to prove that understanding of the principle of separation of church and state as such, which means a complete expulsion of the Church out of public sphere, is the Leninist-Stalinist understanding, and that the right of religious organizations to establish general educational institutions does not mean torpedoing the principle of secular education,” said Victor Yelenskyy.

The MP also noted that the established educational institutions would undergo a regular accreditation and licensingprocedure and comply with the other requirements of the Ministry of Education.

Note that on June 2, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regulating the establishment of educational institutions by religious organizations.”It provided religious organizations, whose regulations (provisions) are registeredaccording to the established procedure, with the right to establish educational institutions (primary, secondary, after-school, vocational and higher educational institutions).

The corresponding draft bill has been registered under No.1447. Its authors are the MPs of the Popular Front faction, Pavlo Unguryan, Lilia Hrynevych and Victor Yelenskyy.