Court finds liquidation of gymnasium in Mykolaiv region illegal

The Mykolaiv District Court declared illegal and canceled the decision of the Veselynivka Village Council to liquidate the Veselynivka Borys Mozolevsky Humanitarian Gymnasium.

According to the press service of the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, during the trial, the juvenile prosecutor supported the plaintiff's claims.

At the same time, the defendant and the representative of the Educational Ombudsman of Ukraine objected to the satisfaction of the claim, arguing that in their opinion the village council had complied with the requirements for making a decision and had respected the rights of the residents of the Veselynivka community when making the disputed decision.

The court examined the written evidence in the case in detail and found that the decision of the village council to liquidate the gymnasium was made in violation of the Laws of Ukraine "On Local Self-Government in Ukraine", "On Complete General Secondary Education", and the Procedure for Holding Public Consultations on the Formation and Implementation of State Policy, approved by a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

In addition, the court found that more than 440 residents of the Veselynivka community spoke out against the liquidation of the educational institution in November 2021, but the opinion of these citizens was not taken into account by the local government.

Ukrainian law stipulates that public consultations are mandatory regarding the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, including the right to education.

In addition, the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated in its opinions that the re-profiling of an educational institution is in the public interest.

When addressing the issue of optimizing the network of educational institutions, the founder must determine the criteria for such optimization, which should be used to select educational institutions for which it would be advisable to consider the reorganization and re-profiling of educational institutions, make a full and meaningful analysis of the activities of all educational institutions in the territorial community and identify such educational institutions whose reorganization would have minimal and non-harmful consequences for the local community, children and their parents.

Meanwhile, in March, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution stipulating that starting from September 1, 2025, the state will no longer allocate funds for teachers' salaries in schools with less than 45 students.

Кирило Бойко