Olha Pokotylo

Last Monday Volodymyr Rizun, the well-known journalist and director of the Institute of Journalism at Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, celebrated his 50th birthday. For his achievements in the fields of journalism and letters Rizun was awarded the Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko prizes,...

Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science has changed its plans for nationwide external testing for grade school leavers this year. Minister Stanislav Nikolaienko announced that only one-third of school leavers will undergo such tests in 2007. As reported earlier by The Day, external testing was...

After the dismantling of the “Kyiv fortress” the Pyrohove State Museum of People’s Architecture and Folkways of Ukraine is in danger of being next in line for destruction. The Kyiv City Council has allotted part of the protected zone around the museum for the construction of a hotel entertainment...

In one way Ukraine is not lagging behind Europe. Like everywhere else in the world, cancer incidence and the mortality rate in Ukraine are increasing every year. In 2006 the Ministry of Health’s oncological facilities registered over 864,000 patients. Official statistics point to a 3.7 percent...

Okechukwu Ibeanu, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Toxic Wastes, visited Ukraine last week. During his visit the UN official traveled to several regions, including Zakarpattia and Lviv oblasts, where he made on-the-spot inspections of places where some illegally-imported hazardous products and...

The fewer homeless animals that roam the streets of a big city the better. Experience has shown that it’s next to impossible for a shelter to accommodate all the homeless dogs and cats in Kyiv. The battle against “redundant” animals is fought in different ways, often with euthanasia. Now an...

Long ago Ukrainian society understood that childcare facilities are not the best way to raise the future generation of the nation. The authorities came to the same conclusion recently. In 2004, a project was launched on the initiative of the Ukrainian foundation Children’s Welfare and with support...

Higher education institutions in Ukraine are facing a complete changeover which will help the Ukrainian science leap all the way to the European scientific and educational level. At least, these are the expectations at the Ministry of Education and Science as it is beginning to introduce order in...

“Get your sleigh ready in summer,” a folk saying goes. Ukrainian government officials are lending ear to the advice and are beginning to plan in winter how children will spend their summer vacations. Children’s recreation and health improvement in 2007 and 2008 were on the agenda on one of the...

Ukraine’s parliament is discussing the National Program to Combat Tuberculosis for 2007-11, a document that, if passed, will be one of the cornerstones of the national public health strategy. It is crucial to adopt a program for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis because the previous...