A bunch of flowers as a protest

Obviously, after the Ukrainian Minister of Education, Science, Youth and Sports Dmytro Tabachnyk was not fired as it had been announced in the lobby, the students seem to be losing their patience. During the Forum of the European ministers of education called “The School of the 21st Century. Kyiv Initiatives” the second-year student of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy Daryna Stepanenko publicly protested against the ministry’s policy and the ban of public students’ meetings. However, she did it in an extraordinary way. The girl publicly hit the Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk who also was the moderator of the Forum. The incident was filmed and the video can be openly viewed on the Internet.

However, in his commentary to UNIAN given shortly after the incident Dmytro Tabachnyk assured that nothing of this kind had happened. The minister thinks that the girl just wanted to give him the flowers. However, according to the information of UNIAN the police arrested Daryna for this “nothing.” A commentary of the unknown author reads that: “The student was taken to the children’s police unit (Daryna is a minor) in 6/8 Tsytadelna Street.” In all probability, she will be penalized by a fine or 15 days in prison.

The commentaries in the social networks make it clear that the opinions about Daryna’s act are divided.

“It was Daryna’s personal initiative. Nobody gave her this task. But it is easily understandable... She is not the one who is not satisfied with our minister’s actions,” Head of the Kyiv Mohyla

Academy Students’ Board Oleksandr KULCHYTSKY considers.

Kulchytsky told The Day that the students have taken her action differently: “Many of them are enthusiastic about it, but some students think that it was unreasonable and might provoke repressions against the university, harm the academy in its confrontation with the ministry and can be favorable for Dmytro Tabachnyk in the judicial proceedings in progress. Fortunately, she had no classes, so she did not miss anything when it happened.”

Meanwhile, some of the students believe that they should protest in a different way, more efficient and civilized one, so to say. “My opinion is that one should express his or her position as for the officials’ actions in a different way. We have the election institution for this. Unfortunately, in our state this function does not always work,” the Kyiv Mohyla Academy graduate Andrii Kovalchuk says.

On the one hand, the ethical rules of behavior make us stay within certain limits but the problem is that the other party does not always play fair and usually does not scruple to use, so to say, “street” methods. Certainly, scandalous fighting methods are bad but the Minister of Education Tabachnyk meant the predetermined scandal.

“On the one hand, Daryna’s action is positive since it has drawn attention to the problems of the Ukrainian education but I am critical about expressing one’s position this way,” the Kyiv Mohyla Academy culturology masters’ program student Ihor Samokhyn told The Day. “There are other ways to protest against the ministry’s policy. For example, now there is a students’ protest in Sofiivska Square organized by the NGOs Priama Diia and Vidsich. Its participants want to draw more attention to the problems of the education. Not just tell the journalists that we do not like the minister of education but clearly tell the journalists and the society about the current problems: what they are related to and what should be done.”

Meanwhile, the students had to wring the possibility to protest since the meeting near St. Michael Cathedral (this place was indicated in the application) was prohibited by the police that arrested four its participants. When this article was being edited the students had another conflict with the police and three more students were arrested. By the way, according to Daryna, her public action was also aimed at drawing attention to the ban of students’ protests. In any case, her position was noticed. One should try hard to be heard in our country since the go-vernment does not pay much attention to people’s opinion expressed peacefully and is repeatedly trying to deprive them of the possibility to express it.