«Clickbait headlines»: Mykolaiv Oblast Education Department accuses journalists of scandal over inspection of boarding schools

The head of the education department of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, Alla Velikhovska, accused the media of publicising the results of an inspection of boarding schools carried out a month ago by representatives of the Office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, who found a large number of violations.

The inspection and its consequences were discussed today, 14 March, during a meeting of the Mykolaiv Regional Council's Commission on Education, according to NikVesti.

As you know, in February, the monitoring group of the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine visited the Lysa Hora Special School and the Antonivka Lyceum in Mykolaiv region. As a result of the inspection, a number of violations were identified, which were described in detail on her Instagram by a representative of the Monitoring Group, human rights activist Inna Miroshnychenko. The violations concerned access to education, domestic issues, the sanitary condition of the premises, including toilets and showers, as well as clothing, expired medicines and lack of access to shelters.

Alla Velikhovska, head of the education department of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, archive photo by NikVesti.

Alla Velikhovska expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the inspection was unexpected for her and the heads of the boarding schools.

«There had been no notification of any such inspection by the Ombudsman in Mykolaiv region. There was no representation of the group either in the institution or in the department. I still don't know who these people are, what their education is, what rights they have...,» complained Alla Velikhovska.

She also stated that the media reprinted «with clickbait headlines» the photos published by Inna Miroshnychenko.

«When the hate started in the networks, and people started calling me and asking about the photos that appeared, they were reprinted by our media with hype headlines from the personal blog of one of the representatives of this public monitoring. These photographs were published, the opinions of the person himself with references to the testimonies of children who were interviewed without being present at all, without any permission. I don't know what questions they were asked...,» said Alla Velikhovska.

Head of Mykolaiv Regional Council Anton Tabunschyk, photo from the politician's Facebook page

She was supported by the head of the regional council, Anton Tabunschyk (party «Servant of the People»), who was present at the meeting and said that the inspection of boarding schools had turned into «media hype», about which he had not been warned. At the same time, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Council said that the most important thing in this situation was not the violation of children's rights, but the issue of information publicity, as he is sure that the media created a negative impression of the Mykolaiv region.

«The inspection that was supposed to take place did take place. But it should have been properly accompanied. We should have been notified, and we should have processed and responded accordingly. Instead, it just turned into a media hype with the corresponding consequences. I would like to draw the attention of both the commission members and the speakers to the most pressing issue. In fact, we had an inspection of institutions by a monitoring group, which is a routine inspection, as they have been before. But the result of this was information disclosure in the media and social networks. We saw photos, posts, opinions. And this led to extreme attention and distortion of facts. Given that we are currently at war in our country, and the primary task is to return children who were illegally taken abroad, including to the Russian Federation, and all services at the national and regional levels are now dealing with this issue on a regular basis, we have created an information profile that everything is bad, and children in Ukraine will be even worse off. Therefore, the conclusions will automatically be very unpredictable, and this will lead to unpredictable measures,» said Anton Tabunschyk.

We would like to remind you that the Department of Education and Science of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration initiated the creation of a working group to study the situation with inadequate conditions in special schools in Mykolaiv region.

Violations of children's rights in special schools in Mykolaiv region

Lysa Hora special school in Pervomaisk district. Photo by human rights activist Inna Miroshnychenko

As you know, a member of the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office, human rights activist Inna Miroshnychenko shared photos of a public inspection of the Lysa Hora Special School in Mykolaiv region. It should be noted that the institution was one of those inspected by the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office. According to the lawyer, there are currently 156 children in the institution, and 98 staff members are supposed to take care of them.

In addition to the Lysa Hora special school, the monitoring group found violations in a number of institutions. For example, it turned out that children who were evacuated to the Antonivka Art Lyceum in Mykolaiv region were not allowed to enter the protective structures, they were forced to stay in the assembly hall, while only students of the institution used the shelters.

It should be recalled that deputies of the Mykolaiv Regional Council were going to check the situation at the Antonivka Art Lyceum in Mykolaiv region (formerly the Antonivka boarding school) in December last year, but this never happened, and the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office arrived there from Kyiv earlier.