On Wednesday, June 8, the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the ARC hosted a working meeting on problematic issues of education in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as the occupied territories of the southern regions of Ukraine.
Experts drew attention to the fact that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine entailed a number of threats to the accessibility of education for residents of the occupied Crimea, in particular, their participation in the 2022 entrance campaign.
As Denys Chystykov, Deputy Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, noted, the number of potential graduates in the occupied Crimea is about 20 thousand people. He also drew attention to the following problematic issues: the lack of updating of the relevant legal acts; danger of leaving and returning to the temporarily occupied territories; conditions for supporting children from the temporarily occupied territories; brain drain abroad.
Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department of Legal and Foreign Affairs of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev during his speech drew attention to the fact that graduates/youth of consciption age do not have the opportunity to leave the temporarily occupied Crimea and Kherson.
“In turn, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center plans to hold a meeting with universities on the possibility of education for TOT residents, primarily young people of conscription age, since many of them will face illegal conscription into the Russian army. However, upon arrival to the controlled territory of Ukraine, young people can also receive summons to the military registration and enlistment offices”,- he added.
Bariiev noted that a state policy should be formed in Ukraine, which will be aimed at ensuring that young people from the occupied territories would rather receive an education in its favor than fight against it in the ranks of the Russian army.
“In addition, teachers in the occupied territories remain another vulnerable category. For example, now they are being invited to courses/training in Crimea, in order to study according to the Russian program from September 1. Teachers don't know what to do in such a situation. Therefore, I emphasize the need to develop separate recommendations for educators in the temporarily occupied territories”,- he added.