International Student Movement

Ukraine:
Protests vs. Commercialisation of Education

The following report was sent in:

In the snowy morning of January 31st thousands of students in seven Ukrainian cities held a protest against the further commercialisation and corruption in higher education, and against elimination of the autonomy of universities.
The protesters rose against governmental bills that were to radically reduce the goverment-funded contracts for students, to inhibit the poorer students who want both study and work by cancelling free education for correspondence students, to allow unlimited increases in tuition, and to rate universities solely by numbers of students who study there. This cuts in educational sector were planned to eliminate the remains of universital autonomy, so that students, living on the breadline, do not rise for their rights.
There were many of us! We flooded the whole street by the governmental building in Kiev, and our comrades stood with us in 6 more cities. We made our demands clear cheerfully but persistently. So, we've already got our first victory! The officials delayed their destructive initiatives and declared that they were ready for negotiations. But this is only the starting point of our struggle for real changes in our education!

Another report in Ukrainian: direct-action.org.ua

Pictures of the demonstration in the capital Kiev:

Source for pictures: censor.net.ua