The Moscow Department of Culture has begun to reorganize children's music and art schools.
The main vector is consolidation, consolidation and, as a result, reduction of administrative costs. In some areas of Moscow there will be only one art school left.
Thus, the Andreev Children's Music School, the Golovanov Children's Music School, the Flier Children's Music School and the Nadezhda Children's Art School should merge into the Moscow City United Children's Art School "Shchukino" by August 31, 2015.
“The process is aimed at strengthening the administrative and financial activities of schools and will not affect the number of teaching staff or student population,”
They were assured by the department.
As the director of the Flier Children's Music School Vyacheslav Gorlinsky said, the reorganization will lead to a reduction in staff in each school.
“All finances will be concentrated in one center, with the general director, who will be able to manage them and more effectively use the various structures that he himself will create. They will serve all four schools on the basis of a dispatch service.
One professional team will serve schools in both economic and engineering areas. Of course, the staff of each school will be reduced, because now everyone has their own accounting department, their own business manager, and their own small technical service,”
The director of the Children's Music School explained.
According to him, in the 1970s and 1980s, a similar system already existed: all music schools were subordinate to the main department of culture and centralized accounting. The current unification will make it possible to improve the material and economic level of “lagging” schools, in particular, to introduce innovative technologies everywhere, Gorlinsky believes.
According to him, four schools have already begun creative unification: for the 70th anniversary of the Victory, they are preparing a theatrical musical and literary composition “Memory” based on the poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky.
“240 children from all schools will participate in the production. This is a big and quite interesting job. Three performances are planned: at the Prokofiev School in the center, then at the Salyut cultural center and on the square in front of the Kaleidoscope shopping center on May 9. This will be the real embodiment of our unification,”
Gorlinsky explained.
However, not all teams agree with the reorganization. Teachers of the Andreev Children's Music School protested against the dismissal of the school director, Honored Cultural Worker Tatyana Simonova. 260 teachers and parents sent an appeal to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin with a request to allow the director to continue working in his previous position.
The team writes that the sudden dismissal of the director was carried out in a disrespectful manner and caused shock among students and staff. As a sign of protest, both head teachers of the school wrote letters of resignation. The teachers planned a rally, which eventually turned into a production meeting with the Department of Culture.
Tatyana Simonova’s colleague Vyacheslav Gorlinsky responded to the protests in a philosophical manner.
“If the team likes the director, people have the right to speak out about this. And whether or not to fire a director is the right of the culture department. We don’t know the reason why this was done,”
Says the director of the Flier Children's Music School.
The Department of Culture explained that the reason for the change of director was Tatyana Simonova’s long sick leave.
“In recent years, Tatyana Simonova has undergone several operations and spent most of the time on sick leave (133 days in 2014), which significantly complicated the process of managing the school.
Currently, Tatyana Kislukhina has been appointed director of the Andreev Children's Music School, who worked at the school for 3 years as the head of the department of stringed folk instruments, for one year as deputy director, and for the last 5 years she headed the Nadezhda art school, which under her leadership became one of the best Moscow art schools”,
The department stated.
Kislukhina herself said that in December and January she was already acting. school director while Tatyana Simonova was on sick leave.
“We all have the following clause in our employment contracts: the founder has the right to dismiss the director from office at any time. We all knew about this, because we signed the employment contract. In the near future, we must create a charter for a new consolidated school, draw up a staffing table, and register a new legal entity with the tax authorities. Schools will continue to operate in the educational process mode. We received the state task for 2015,”
Tatyana Kislukhina stated.
The name of the new CEO of the merged school has not yet been announced. As reported at the Golovanov Children's Music School, it is possible that Tatyana Kislukhina will become it.
The director of the Moscow Special Music School named after the Gnessins, Mikhail Khokhlov, considers the association “extremely useful.”
According to him, it will allow each of the schools to reduce the cost of specialists that the school does not need every day, and, therefore, save part of the city budget. Also, music schools will be able to use each other’s privileges free of charge, for example, renting concert halls for free. The most important thing is not to lose the number of students.
“The only downside of the reorganization is the dismissal of some school leaders. As a result, the budget manager loses control levers. This can lead to opposition both to this particular reform and to reforms in general. But there are still more advantages,”
Mikhail Khokhlov is sure.
Unlike her colleague, pianist and presidential confidant Ekaterina Mechetina says that the reorganization is unlikely to benefit schools.
“I don’t know a single person who would be in favor of such a union. The teachers tried to protest even at the stage of discussing the initiative, but now, apparently, it is too late.
Even if formally the size of the administration decreases, in practice there will only be more bureaucracy and running around. In addition, each school has its own identity, and the risk that it will suffer is very high,”
Mechetina noted.
As a result of the reform in the North-Western Administrative District of Moscow, it is planned to create three united art schools: “Shchukino”, “Tushino” (Children's Music School named after Oborin, Children's Musical School named after Dokshitser and Children's Musical School named after Maykapar) and Children's Art School named after Stravinsky (with the addition of the Children's Music School in Kurkino).
In total, there are now 122 children's music schools and children's art schools in Moscow.
The teacher must know the legal aspects of personnel policy. Article two*
We continue a series of publications introducing teachers to different aspects of labor relations in schools. The presenter of the column is Anna Vavilova, Candidate of Legal Sciences, Deputy Director of the Center for Applied Legal Research at the Institute for Educational Development of the State University Higher School of Economics.
“The administration called several teachers and told them: staff reductions are beginning at our school, write letters of resignation “of your own free will.” The teachers thought, decided that nothing could be done, and wrote...
“Such a demand from the administration is absolutely illegal. She has no right to force teachers to write such a statement. Moreover, if an employee succumbs to pressure and writes a letter of resignation of his own free will, and he manages to prove in court that he was forced to do this by force, he can be reinstated at work. There are such cases in judicial practice.
What evidence can the teacher present to the court in this case? For example, witness statements. Has anyone heard any talk about being fired? Did the employer suggest that he resign on his own initiative in the presence of specific third parties? Can these persons confirm that the employee was pressured or threatened? Once I was faced with a very strange situation when the employer demanded in writing that the employee write a letter of resignation “at his own request.” In the resolution on the application, he indicated that only in this case the employee would be paid. The employee took the application with a resolution to the court.
However, making predictions regarding a specific legal dispute is quite difficult. For example, a teacher will come to court and say: I was forced to resign of my own free will, and the employer, summoned to court, will object - nothing of the kind, he wrote the statement himself. We do not have a single piece of evidence that would be mandatory for the court. We need evidence.
The teacher will have a much greater chance of proving his case in court if one of the third parties agrees to come to court and confirm that pressure was exerted on the teacher. However, experience shows: even if the entire workforce heard the demand to resign of their own free will, people do not want to testify in court against their employer.
Therefore, quite often, witnesses against the employer are people who worked in this organization, but have already left it. They are the ones who, as a rule, agree to confirm in court what they heard. But here the employer can declare that the employees had conflicts with the administration (that’s why they quit) and now, in retaliation, they are deliberately slandering the employer. So it is very difficult to predict which of the witnesses the court will believe!
– What advice can be given to those who, in the context of staff reductions, are offered to resign “of their own free will”?
– Just don’t write this statement! This is much easier than looking for witnesses and going to court later. Offering a teacher to resign “of his own free will” is a very convenient solution for the administration.
Firstly, the employee loses all the guarantees that are provided to him in connection with the reduction in staff.
Secondly, in this way the director can get rid of the complex and lengthy procedure for dismissal due to staff reduction. As we will see later, any mistake in following this procedure is fraught with trial and reinstatement of the laid-off employee.
The teacher must understand: if there is a staff reduction and if the employer really intends to reduce this or that rate, he will reduce it. But - in due time, according to the law, with social guarantees and payment of compensation. Don't rush things. Don't sign anything. Wait.
– Many schools are undergoing reorganizations and staff reductions. Meanwhile, teachers fear that, under the guise of staff reductions, administrations are trying to get rid of inconvenient teachers. How should they behave in such a case?
– First of all, let’s clarify what kind of procedure this is – staff reduction (it is one of the grounds for dismissal of employees). An employer resorts to it when he comes to the conclusion that his organization can function more efficiently without a specific staff member.
Sometimes the question is asked: at what number of rates does staff reduction begin?
It can start (and end) with a single bet. Only one person can be laid off, maybe a third of teachers. If we leave 49 out of 50 teachers, this is a reduction. The same as if we leave only 10 teachers out of 50. Only the scale differs.
It must be admitted that recently staff reductions have been taking place in many schools: the birth rate is falling, the number of children is decreasing. For reasons beyond the employer's control, the number of class sets being formed is decreasing. Accordingly, teacher salaries are also released.
Downsizing can also occur during internal reorganization. The employer has reformed the institution, and as a result it can provide educational services using fewer employees.
The main criterion by which it can be determined that a layoff is legal is that the position being cut, not the person. The position must disappear! Simply because the employer, for one or another objective reason, no longer needs this staff member. But the situation when we don’t like Ivanov, but we can’t fire him for any reason, let’s make him redundant, is absolutely illegal.
If, for example, a primary school teacher is laid off and then another is hired in his place, this is grounds for going to court. The dismissed employee will win the case in court and will be returned to work with payment of wages for forced absence, with payment of compensation for moral damage.
Employers should keep in mind that the court will request and examine many documents reflecting whether the controversial position was actually laid off, including the staffing table before and after the layoff, the wage fund, the number of hours worked on the timesheet...
If the court finds that the position has not disappeared and another person has been hired, then the employer will not be helped by explanations that he fired the employee due to staff reduction in compliance with the official procedure and payment of the required compensation. Dismissal will be considered illegal.
One more unlawful layoff should be pointed out: when an employee who occupies a low-skilled vacancy is supposedly being laid off, but in reality an employee who occupied a highly qualified vacancy is being laid off. For what? So that a released highly qualified employee takes a lower position in the same organization. For example, a highly qualified teacher is laid off because there is a reduction in the number of teachers at the school, and some person from among the service personnel is dismissed due to staff reduction in order to place this teacher in a lower position. This situation is illegal. If the position of a teacher is reduced, then the teacher must be fired. If the institution currently does not have a vacancy with lower qualifications, then it is illegal to dismiss a person from a vacancy in order to place a layoff person in it.
– How can teachers determine that staff reductions are actually taking place at a school? Sometimes the administration constantly tells teachers about future layoffs, so that someone can’t stand it and quits himself...
– If staff reductions have actually begun at a school, the teacher must receive mandatory written notification. The Labor Code says: it must be received at least two months in advance. The employer can notify the teacher about the layoff much earlier. But receiving a notification later than this period is grounds for going to court.
Now about the notification form. This notification is personal and requires signature. A telegram sent to a residence is an improper form of notice and will be considered a violation of procedure.
If the school is talking about staff reductions, but notifications have not been received, then teachers should ask: why is the employer not following the procedure required by law? If there is a trade union at the school, it must be notified of layoffs without fail. The employment office must also be notified.
If a school has a redundancy commission, employees should be familiarized with the results of its work. Otherwise, the results of the commission’s work may have to be presented to the court!
Let me emphasize: our labor legislation proceeds from the fact that violation of the dismissal procedure is already grounds for reinstatement.
To comply with the staff reduction procedure, the employer requires at least 2 months. It is impossible to meet it in a shorter period of time.
If the administration notified the teacher of the layoff two weeks in advance and then fired him, the teacher will be reinstated by the court, and the employer will have to start the layoff procedure from the very beginning, by providing a written notice 2 months in advance. Even if the employee was notified of dismissal not 2 months in advance, but 29 days in one month (they calculated incorrectly and decided that one day was nothing), the dismissal procedure was violated and it must be started all over again.
It often happens this way: the administration comes to its senses at the moment when the employee has already gone on vacation. On September 1, layoffs must be carried out, but there are no teachers at school anymore! What should we do, the administration asks? If the teacher went on vacation on June 25, then there’s no way! Because it is unrealistic to follow the entire dismissal procedure with an absent employee. And an employee, having returned from vacation (less than 2 months before September 1) and received a notice of layoff, has every right to go to court if he is laid off on the first day and the court returns him to work.
Sometimes they ask: can the procedure be considered followed if the reason for dismissal was not explained to the teacher? In the notice itself, which is given to the teacher against signature, the employer can indicate the reason for the reduction, because with a real reduction in staff there is always one.
Official documents
Article 81. Termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the employer
An employment contract can be terminated by the employer in the following cases:
2) reduction in the number or staff of employees of an organization or individual entrepreneur;
Article 180. Guarantees and compensation to employees in the event of liquidation of an organization, reduction of the number or staff of employees of the organization
When carrying out measures to reduce the number or staff of an organization’s employees, the employer is obliged to offer the employee another available job (vacant position)…
Employees are warned by the employer personally and against signature at least two months before dismissal about the upcoming dismissal due to the liquidation of the organization, reduction in the number or staff of the organization's employees.
The employer, with the written consent of the employee, has the right to terminate the employment contract with him before the expiration of the period specified in part two of this article, paying him additional compensation in the amount of the employee’s average earnings, calculated in proportion to the time remaining before the expiration of the notice of dismissal.
*Article one – “PS” No. 17
The news that the Ministry of Finance had come up with the idea of completely depriving aesthetic education institutions for children or simply music schools from funding from the state budget shocked the public, although the government has not yet made a final decision on this issue. Many parents are outraged by the possible closure of music schools and are sounding the alarm, fearing for their children’s leisure time. To understand the situation, GolosUA turned for help to the head of the All-Ukrainian Council of Directors of Aesthetic Education Schools, the director of music school No. 35 in Kyiv, Alexander Shalit.
How much will parents have to pay for their children's education in a music school if the state completely suspends their funding?
The cost of fees in music schools must take into account several factors. Firstly, the wages of school employees, the wages of technical staff, wage accruals, then the maintenance of the premises, water supply, drainage, sewerage, electricity, local areas, repair of musical instruments, purchase of office supplies and detergents, etc. - very A lot of everything. And if the instruments are expensive and rare, as, for example, at my school, then they generally require separate care, which requires separate costs. At my school, a figure popped up - 3.5-4 thousand UAH per month for each parent.
- And if we take the average figures for Ukraine?
If we take the average for Ukraine, then in small schools it is a minimum of 1300 UAH per month, a maximum of 2700 UAH per month, this does not take into account current and major repairs. This is exclusively wages, maintenance of the premises and utilities - what the state pays us today. But if we are transferred to the so-called economically justified tuition fee, then parents will have to pay at least 1,300 UAH per month, and in institutions like mine, where it is 3.5 - 4 thousand per month, as I already said.
How many music schools will close if the state completely suspends funding for their activities from the state budget? And in general, what opportunities do aesthetic education institutions have to exist at their own expense?
Considering that today the so-called parental fee makes up only 7% of the total funding of out-of-school aesthetic education institutions, and 90-93% is state funds, I can say that the complete refusal of the state to finance our activities will lead to 100% schools will close. No parent will be able to pay even the minimum cost of music education for a child - 1,300 UAH per month. If today the minimum wage is 1,417 UAH, then the child needs to be clothed, fed, some stationery bought for him, etc. Where will the parent get more money to educate the child in aesthetic education institutions.
- What if the authorities choose a middle option and, for example, reduce funding for music schools by 50%?
It will still be a complete collapse. Especially, first of all, music schools in villages and urban-type settlements will disappear, because people there are simply insolvent working and living. What can I talk about, if even in the capital I’m fighting, I’ve been trying for five years to get money to repair the roof, water is flowing from the ceiling, and I can’t do anything. Parents, even those who could help, will still not bear the state's expenses for maintaining the premises of the institution.
What if we cut costs a little, as the head of the Cabinet of Ministers Mykola Azarov likes to say, “tighten our belts”?
I would like to say that today the law stipulates that funds should be allocated from the local budget, for example, for the purchase of school completion certificates - we were not allocated a single penny, the school’s material resources - not a single penny, tuning and repair of musical instruments - not a single penny. I have a tuner on my staff who makes sure that the instruments are in more or less normal condition, but he cannot make repairs because we do not have any factories for the production of piano strings, we do not repair folk instruments at all - button accordions, accordions, because there are no such masters. With the collapse of the USSR, the last workshops that repaired musical instruments by bank transfer disappeared. It's a terrible situation today, it's just...
Please tell me, have there already been similar situations in the history of independent Ukraine when music schools were on the verge of extinction?
Something similar happened at the turn of 1999-2000, when the Ministry of Finance for the first time tried to transfer us to full economic accounting, and thanks to this, at our expense, they would increase salaries for librarians and other professions. We then also raised the public awareness and did not allow this to happen. So this is not the first time. The fact is that this is the position taken by government officials, mainly from the Ministry of Finance. In our country, many issues are decided by mid-level officials. Indeed, this issue is not decided by the Minister of Culture, but by the apparatus of the Ministry of Culture. I was very surprised that only two months after the letter of recommendation (on the complete refusal of state funding for aesthetic education institutions - ed.) was registered in the Ministry of Culture, there was a reaction to it. Should it be like this?
Obviously, one of the reasons for the reorganization of educational organizations is the need to combine their material, technical, personnel and other resources to achieve greater efficiency. And it doesn’t matter how exactly the resources were combined, or how the work of workers was optimized, it is important that optimization, as a rule, leads to a change in the staffing table: staffing units are either excluded from it or reduced with the subsequent payment of compensation. What points should the head of an educational organization pay attention to in this case?
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Deadlines for layoffs of teaching staff
First of all, it is necessary to correctly determine the timing of the reduction of teaching staff. Educational organizations work according to a clearly defined annual schedule (school time alternates with vacations), and practice shows that it is best to change the staffing schedule before the start of the school year. However, there is no prohibition on restructuring the staff of an educational organization, for example, in winter or spring. The key point here is to allow sufficient time to complete all procedures established by labor legislation, so that from the decision to reduce staff at the school to the actual reduction, all necessary actions can be completed.
Unfortunately, in practice this is not always possible, since the decision to optimize staffing is often made by an educational organization in connection with the political decision of the founder. There are situations when such a decision is made by the founder too late and is therefore communicated to subordinate organizations within a time limit that precludes the possibility of fulfilling all legal requirements.
Issues regarding the reduction of teaching staff are within the exclusive competence of the employer. In other words, the decision to carry out or not to carry out measures to reduce the number of employees is made by the head of the educational organization.
Reduction of teaching staff: options
There are several options for solving this problem. For example, the head of an educational organization may not fulfill the instructions of the founder or fulfill it at a later date. In this case, he will act lawfully, since the approval of the staffing table relates to the powers of the organization; the founder has no right to impose his opinion here. Another thing is that “disobedience” will most likely lead to a conflict with the founder, and this will have a bad effect on the work of the organization.
Another option is that the head of an educational organization can formalize the reduction of teaching staff in a shorter period of time with their consent. However, this is not the best way to solve the problem - if the employee agrees to be dismissed, it is much safer to terminate the employment contract with him by agreement of the parties. For the employer, this will mean that there is no need to worry about complying with the complex dismissal procedure specified by law for redundancy (any violation of which may serve as a reason for the employee’s reinstatement at work). The employee will be paid the appropriate funds, although not as severance pay in the event of a reduction in staff or numbers, but by agreement of the parties to terminate the employment contract.
Thus, in the first and second scenarios, the rate is first reduced, then the employee is fired, in the third, the employee is fired first, and then the vacated rate is reduced.
After the decision has been made and all deadlines have been determined, the head of the educational organization must issue an order to make changes to the staffing table in connection with a reduction in the number or staff of employees. This order is the starting point of the reduction procedure, and in the event of a conflict situation, the reality of its implementation will be assessed by the court.
We emphasize that the court can evaluate exactly how much the rate was actually reduced, i.e. whether the reduction was valid. The court does not have the right to assess the appropriateness of the reduction. A change in the staffing table, as a rule, is a legitimate reaction of the management of an educational organization to a change in the conditions of its activities, therefore the court should not consider the question of whether such a reduction was justified, whether it was possible to do without it, etc. Nevertheless, in a number of cases it is advisable still provide the court with an explanation of the reasons for the reduction.
The reduction of teaching staff may be natural in an educational organization if the volume of its work (due to a reduction in the number of students, classes, hours according to the curriculum) is constantly decreasing. Such a reduction can be proven by providing the court with the relevant documents.
A reduction can also occur when the volume of work of an educational organization has not changed, but the employer has introduced new forms and methods of work, and therefore responsibilities within the team have been redistributed and the number of required workers has decreased.
Documents legitimizing the reduction of teaching staff
You can confirm that the reduction of teaching staff was actually carried out by orders and instructions from the head of the organization, extracts from staffing tables (before and after the dismissal of workers), data on the reduction of the wage fund, recording of working hours, etc. Of course, if it becomes clear, that the reduction of teaching staff was carried out, but the rates were never eliminated - the workers will be reinstated.
In the event of a legal dispute about the legality of dismissal due to redundancy, the employer will be required to prove that a reduction in position actually took place. If the employee expressed a desire to work in the reorganized organization (did not refuse this) and his position in the staff list was retained, dismissal due to reduction will be considered illegal.
Reduction of teaching staff and elimination of positions
The head of an educational organization should also remember that dismissal due to reduction is possible only when the employee’s position is excluded from the staffing table. It is impossible to dismiss a less qualified employee from a position that is not being reduced by offering this position to a more qualified employee whose position is actually being reduced. Often, the employer benefits from just such a reshuffle of personnel, since he is interested in retaining the most valuable employees, albeit in other positions. However, such dismissal of an employee - in order to free up his position for another employee - is unacceptable, since in reality there is no reduction in position.
It is also necessary to take into account that when the owner of the property of an educational organization changes, a reduction in the number or staff of employees is allowed only after state registration of the transfer of ownership. The fact that there has been a reorganization of the organization does not in any way facilitate the procedure for dismissing employees if, in connection with the reorganization, a reduction in numbers or staff is required. The reduction procedure in this case must be strictly followed.
Once it has been determined which positions are subject to reduction, it is necessary to determine which specific employees fall under it. If only one rate (or less) was provided for the corresponding position and it was occupied by one specific employee, this decision is made automatically; there is no choice in this case. If the number of rates for the corresponding position is reduced, it becomes necessary to decide which of the employees working in the corresponding position will be laid off and which will continue to work in the organization.
The employer can make this decision independently. However, in this regard it is necessary to take into account the rights, guarantees and benefits established by law or a collective agreement for certain categories of workers.
Reduction of teaching staff - only after notification
What other actions, in addition to issuing an order to amend the staffing table, must be taken by the employer in relation to an employee with whom the employment contract is terminated due to a reduction in positions (staffing units)? First of all, personally notify the employee of the upcoming dismissal due to a reduction in the number or staff, then offer the employee a transfer to another permanent job or notify him of the absence of vacancies, then issue a dismissal order and make notes about the dismissal in the personal card and in the work book employee.
In conclusion, we note once again that reorganization should not appear in the documents as a basis for downsizing. One must focus exclusively on the production necessity and economic feasibility of this event for an educational organization.
There is panic in music schools and other cultural education institutions. As part of the optimization, officials are reducing subjects and teachers' rates. Teachers, accordingly, are deprived of their jobs, and Ukrainian children are deprived of quality aesthetic education.
Back in June 2013, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Yuri Pavlenko stated that optimization should bring all these institutions to a “new level of development.” AiF.ua tried to figure out what this development would lead to.
What's next for music schools?
Ordinary Ukrainians began to feel the fruits of optimization with the beginning of the new school year, when they began to look for music schools for their children. One of them was Kyiv blogger Roman Khimich, who wanted to enroll his son in one of these institutions in Obolon. At several schools, teachers advised him to hold off and come back to them later. According to them, both teachers and subjects are being cut. Because of this, specialists turn to various authorities, including the city department of culture.
In January, the Ministry of Finance sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture on optimizing the network of music and art schools and transferring them to self-sufficiency. After talking with teachers, AiF.ua found out that in the near future the institution expects:
- Reducing the total number of teaching hours in all subjects.
- Complete exclusion from the curriculum of theory classes, in particular solfeggio and music literature. These subjects teach music reading and musical literacy.
- Increasing the number of students in groups from 10 to 18 people.
- Increased workload for teachers.
- Increase in tuition fees.
- Dismissal of teachers.
- Purchase of things necessary for teaching at the expense of teachers (reporting journals, chalk).
How institutions have already been optimized
Not many of the teachers’ forecasts have yet been realized, but they are already noticeable:
- In 2013, tuition fees in Kyiv music schools have already increased by 10-30 UAH, although officials promised not to increase it. In Ternopil, parents began to be charged more back in 2011, including in art institutions. In the same year, people in Odessa began to complain about the gradual increase in pay. In 2012, prices increased in Kharkov music schools.
- Reduction of specialists. For example, this year teachers from five music schools in the Obolonsky district of Kyiv were counted. Before this, the same fate befell teachers at institutions in Pechersk.
- Some items are taken away from professionals and transferred to those specialists who do not have the appropriate education.
- Reduced teaching hours. In particular, at the Dnepropetrovsk Theater and Art College, some teachers' workload is reduced by more than 100 hours with a traditional load of 720 hours.
- Closing and merging several institutions into one. A striking example is the April liquidation of music school No. 1 in Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region. It was combined with another institution.
What do the authorities promise?
In early June, at a press conference, Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Yuri Pavlenko promised that tuition fees in music schools would not be increased. According to him, for some categories of children it will even decrease. They intend to make the payment economically justified, not lower than cost and at the same time affordable for any family.
The Verkhovna Rada did not support the transition of aesthetic education schools to self-sufficiency. According to people's deputies, optimization contradicts the social initiatives of the president, which provide for the involvement of up to 70% of children in out-of-school education.
Deputies registered a draft resolution introducing a moratorium on the closure of aesthetic education schools. One of its authors is the head of the parliamentary committee on science and education, Liliya Grinevich. According to her, the government is forcing local governments to cut down such educational institutions instead of preserving and filling them with new content.
Is the education system falling apart?
“Any reduction in the curriculum inevitably leads to a loss of knowledge and a decrease in the level of general culture of students,” believes Director of the Kyiv Music School No. 3 named after. Kosenko Nikolay Lukyanchuk. -Now in Ukraine the system of children's aesthetic education and upbringing is falling apart. Government innovations will lead to irreparable losses.”
According to him, if theory lessons are reduced in music schools, then, for example, instead of three or four lessons, half the lesson will be devoted to studying Mozart, or they will talk about him “mixed” with Bach. And if a student misses a lesson, he will no longer know the topic.
When the subjects are reduced, students will be quickly introduced to the basics of the disciplines, and the main emphasis on them will be on schools where they will prepare those who want to study music professionally. AiF.ua reported this teacher of solfeggio and musical literature Elena Osipenko. In addition, if the workload increases, teachers' salaries will not increase.
And at the Dnepropetrovsk Theater and Art College, teachers are created with “interesting” situations in which they would quit themselves. A source from the institution reported this to AiF.ua. The cuts mainly affect those who are not close to the administration. According to the source, this year some graduating students were given the subjects “Life Safety” and “Occupational Safety” in the second round, although they passed all this in the third year and passed the exams. Thus, teachers, on the contrary, are trying to add teaching hours.
According to Osipenko, Ukraine is waiting for an analogue of the Western education system, in which, in particular, there is no subject “music theory”. Abroad, everything is simplified to the minimum - teachers simply teach how to play the instrument. Instead of preserving long-standing developments, music education is simply “castrated,” the specialist noted.
“The Western model is significantly inferior to the domestic one,” said N. Lukyanchuk. - The diploma of Ukrainian musicians is the only one in the world that does not require confirmation. For example, doctors and engineers abroad need to retrain.”
Music theory was preserved only in the regions of the former USSR, Osipenko added. She believes that due to optimization, “theorists” may become an endangered species and “go underground.” A teacher’s colleague from Germany said that in German music schools the teacher can teach the basics of such subjects only on his own initiative. And then, you only need to spend a few minutes, because the lessons last up to 45 minutes and take place once a week. Theory and rhythmics are sometimes taught in German conservatories.
By the way
Optimization is included in the economic reform program for 2010-2014. “A rich society, a competitive economy, an effective state.” As part of the procedure from 2010 to 2013. 25 Ukrainian universities were united, which is why there are 18 fewer higher education institutions in the country.
In particular, this year Transcarpathian State University was merged with Uzhgorod National University. The State Economic University was created in Dnepropetrovsk. According to the Minister of Education Dmitry Tabachnik, for this purpose the Customs Academy was combined with a “small financial university”.
Similar actions by the authorities caused a wave of protests by teachers in Lvov, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa and Sumy.
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