KYIV – The Cabinet of Ministers’ appointment of an acting minister of education and science of Ukraine has sparked a public outcry, marked by several public protests and official letters to the president and the government.
The appointee, Serhii Shkarlet, was a member of the Party of Regions and worked with President Viktor Yanukovych’s reviled Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk. Mr. Shkarlet is also suspected of corruption and plagiarism. Nevertheless, both President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal supported him for the education minister’s role; as a result, Mr. Shkarlet was appointed acting minister even though the Verkhovna Rada committee on education did not vote its approval.