The Verkhovna Rada officially dismissed on March 20 Education Minister Serhiy Shkarlet, Strategic Industries Minister Pavlo Riabikin, and Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on March 18 that Shkarlet would be replaced by Oksen Lisovyi, who currently works as the head of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a governmental institution focused on education for middle and high school-aged children.
Furthermore, he added that Riabikin would be replaced by the former CEO of Ukraine's state-run railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandr Kamyshin, and Fedorov would be appointed a deputy prime minister.
In February 2022, students from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy went out in protest calling for the resignation of Shkarlet. This came after a scandal where they believed he had sabotaged the election for a new academy president.
During the voting process, one of the voting boxes was defaced, while another was temporarily removed from the premises. When the Education Ministry reneged on their promise to hold new elections, students took to the streets against Shkarlet and demanded that Serhiy Kvit be made the new academy president.
Kvit was the education minister from 2014-2016 and the rector of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy from 2007-2014. In 2020, Kvit led a commision that found Shkarlet guilty of academic plagiarism.
Shkarlet denied the accusations.
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