Educational institutions' repairs should not be handled by educators – ombudsman
Kyiv • UNN
Educational ombudsman Nadiia Leshchyk believes that educators should not be involved in construction and repair work in educational institutions. The repair work should be commissioned by competent departments or enterprises.
Educators should not be involved in construction and repair work at educational institutions. The customer for the repair of educational institutions, including shelters, should be those departments, divisions, state or municipal enterprises that have personnel endowed with the necessary competencies for this, believes educational ombudswoman Nadiia Leshchyk, writes UNN.
Details
From time to time, reports from law enforcement agencies appear in the public domain regarding criminal proceedings against heads of educational institutions due to violations of legislation during construction or repair work in educational institutions, particularly in shelters.
These reports mention the procurement of goods and the performance of works that do not comply with state building codes and conditions, including safety, which caused material damage to the budget.
In most situations that she found in the public domain, the head of the educational institution independently concluded the contract and signed the relevant documents. Thus, discussions arise as to whether the head of the educational institution should take responsibility and deal with construction issues, be responsible for such work and sign the relevant documents, or should have special knowledge in this area.
Having analyzed some of the procurements, the educational ombudswoman drew attention to the fact that completely different entities act as the customer for construction work, capital repairs, including shelters of educational institutions or the performance of technical supervision work:
• separate state or municipal enterprises and institutions;
• departments of regional state administrations;
• local self-government bodies or their separate departments or divisions (housing and communal services, construction, landscaping and infrastructure development, etc.).
At the same time, most often it is a specific educational institution or education management body that acts as the customer in such situations.
"In my opinion, shifting responsibility to the heads of educational institutions for organizing construction work in an educational institution, including in a shelter or carrying out repair work, overburdens the heads of educational institutions with additional duties, for the performance of which they lack the necessary competencies or special knowledge. In particular, the head of an educational institution should not possess competencies related to state building codes, technical supervision, construction or economic expertise, etc. Heads do not have knowledge about the peculiarities of constructing protective structures, they cannot monitor prices for material resources and analyze them. Such requirements are not provided for them. The same applies to employees of education management bodies," Leshchyk noted.
The ombudswoman added that, in her opinion, some of these proceedings may be related to the incompetence of directors in construction matters, which other individuals may take advantage of.
The results of the international parallel audit of effectiveness, the report of which was approved by the decision of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine No. 32-1 dated 03.07.2024, indicate that the designation at the local level of educational institutions and/or education management bodies as customers for construction work, which did not have qualified personnel and experience in implementing similar projects, is one of the reasons for inefficient management of budget funds and their inefficient use at the local level. According to the audit results, violations of current legislation, as well as shortcomings in the use of budget funds, were identified at all stages of project implementation: during the development of project documentation, public procurement, and acceptance of completed works.
That is why, according to Leshchyk, the customer for construction work or repairs of educational institutions, including civil defense structures, should be those departments, divisions, state or municipal enterprises that have personnel endowed with the necessary competencies for this.
Addition
Educational ombudsman Nadiia Leshchyk called on parents of schoolchildren, together with educators, to consider using the free state electronic service, which includes an electronic journal and diary - MRIYA.