What changed in Ukraine's schools and prosecution service in March 2020?
A look back at a school-law milestone and a prosecutor general appointment made within a day of each other.
What did Ukrainians' public institutions look like on 18 March 2020? That day, the law "On Complete General Secondary Education" (Про повну загальну середню освіту) entered into force, bringing a new legal framework for the country's secondary schooling into effect.
The previous day, 17 March 2020, was marked by a major appointment in the justice system. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine gave its agreement, and President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Iryna Venediktova as Prosecutor General.
Taken together, the two developments fell within a single 24-hour span: one concerned the rules governing schools, the other the leadership of the prosecution service. Both were formal steps, one a law taking effect and the other a senior post being filled through the procedure that involved both parliament and the head of state.
The school law applied from 18 March 2020, while the prosecutor general's appointment had been completed a day earlier. The two items are linked here only by their timing, as parts of the public record for those two days in Ukraine.
