In Lviv’s Ivan Franko Park, plans are under way to create a space dedicated to Ivan Vakarchuk. This was announced by the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi.
According to him, it was on the site of the future space that a memorial evening for Ivan Vakarchuk was held the day before. His family, friends, colleagues and former students attended the event.
During the event, the head of the region recalled Ivan Vakarchuk’s role in reforming the university admissions system and in entrenching the Ukrainian language in education and science.
«Millions of Ukrainians have taken the External Independent Evaluation. But not everyone remembers that it was precisely during Ivan Vakarchuk’s term as Minister of Education and Science that the External Independent Evaluation became the basis for admission to Ukrainian universities. Clear and uniform rules for everyone were introduced, which significantly levelled the playing field for applicants from all over the country, from large cities as well as from small villages. Just as firmly, Ivan Vakarchuk defended the Ukrainian language as the language of education and science. To speak Ukrainian, to teach, to write textbooks, to defend dissertations, to conduct complex academic debates, to create new knowledge. Today this sounds natural. But many things that seem natural to us today once had to be fought for by someone. Ivan Vakarchuk fought for them,» the head of Lviv region stressed
Maksym Kozytskyi also thanked Sviatoslav Vakarchuk for organising the memorial evening and for his personal recollections of his father which, he said, make the memory of Ivan Oleksandrovych a shared one for many people.