Representatives of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) held a series of meetings with educators, students, and representatives of educational institutions during a working visit to Khmelnytskyi.
“Building integrity and active educational activities are an important area of the NACP's work. We have to lay the value framework from childhood by integrating integrity topics into the curriculum. The NACP is actively working to implement two areas of educational materials development and transformation of the educational environment in schools and universities,” said Deputy Head of the NACP Serhii Hupiak.
He emphasized that each new generation is less tolerant of corruption. “Our task is to accelerate these processes through certain educational activities. And teachers are important persons for schoolchildren who are a subconscious model of behavior outside the family,” said the NACP Deputy Head.
During the meeting at Khmelnytskyi Volodymyr Krasytskyi Lyceum No. 1 with educators, including teachers and administrators of educational institutions, they discussed their key role in shaping the worldview of young people and how to explain the concepts of corruption and integrity to children simply and interestingly, and how to help them apply the knowledge they have gained in practice.
“We often turn a blind eye to everyday corruption, considering it to be insignificant and acceptable. This tolerance creates the illusion that these small violations have no consequences. However, out of such small things grows a system where corruption becomes the standard. To protect society from a new era of corruption, we work with young people. They are the target audience that can be influenced by information and educated in the spirit of integrity. We need to create an environment in the country where transparent decisions are made, and this can only be done through consistent education and upbringing of new generations,” said Alyona Khylko, representative of the NACP's Department of Education and Training Programs.
Her colleague, Viktoriia Skorobohata, presented the discipline “Anti-Corruption and Integrity” and conducted an interactive lesson for students of Khmelnytskyi National University. They considered real-life cases related to corruption. This approach allows young people to better understand the problem and prepare to actively confront corruption challenges in the future.
The NACP calls on schools, universities, and colleges to join in the efforts to build a virtuous society. We remind you that in the new academic year, anti-corruption disciplines will be taught in 560 schools and 65 universities.
“Transparent School" is an all-Ukrainian project to transform the educational environment in schools through the introduction of educational materials on integrity and anti-corruption, which consists of several stages. It involves the integration of educational materials for students and teachers on integrity and anti-corruption into the educational process.
- “Integrity Lessons” for grades 3-4 (developed by the NACP's partners, the Smart Education NGO);
- “Integrity Online” communication hours (developed by the Integrity Office in cooperation with the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine),
- communication hours “Essays on Integrity” (developed by the Integrity Office in cooperation with the Educational Center of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine);
- an anti-corruption course for 9th grade (developed by the NACP Integrity Office in cooperation with the NGO EdCamp Ukraine);
- anti-corruption games: “What? Where? When?”, mafia, quest (developed by partners - NGO ‘EdCamp Ukraine’), ‘Crystal Lighthouse’ (Vox Ukraine since 2023).
- Pro Integrity manual (schools started using it in 2024)
- online course “Transparent School: How to Create a Transparent Learning Environment”
- online course “Teaching: What to tell about integrity in the classroom”
- animated series “Guide to a Virtuous Teacher”
- webinars, trainings, workshops, workshops from invited experts organized by the NACP Integrity Office
- recommendations on the functioning of an educational institution based on transparency, openness, and integrity - the Educational Navigator manual.
The Transparent Universities project consists of several components. - Educational and methodological materials.
The Office developed a university discipline called “Anti-Corruption and Integrity.” In the academic year 2023-2024, the discipline was piloted in 10 universities in Ukraine, and about 900 students took it. A sociological study showed that the effectiveness of the course was almost 90%. In 2024, 50 more higher education institutions will join the project, which demonstrates interest in the materials developed. - Increasing the capacity of teachers. These are free online courses on the study.nazk.gov.ua platform that help teachers increase their expertise and deepen their knowledge of integrity for quality interaction with students.
- Transformation of the educational environment. To enhance the effect of educational programs, it is also important to transform the learning environment and increase transparency in educational institutions. That is why we have developed the Guidelines for Building Integrity in Higher Education Institutions. The solutions contained in them are a systematic tool to help higher education institutions organize their activities in a way that does not contribute to misconduct.
More information about educational initiatives can be found on the NACP's Integrity Office page.
