On November 1, 2016, a meeting took place between the Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science Lilia Grinevich and a group of leaders of Ukrainian national minority organizations. The meeting was initiated by Co-President of VAAD Ukraine, Executive Vice President of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, Chairman of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress General Council Josef Zissels. The discussion centered around potential amendments to the Ukrainian “On Education” Law, particularly where it concerns the right to receive education in languages spoken by national minorities.

A draft amendment has been submitted to the Ukrainian Parliament which is believed by national minority representatives to contradict the Ukrainian Constitution. Josef Zissels proposed a compromise which could preserve the right of national minorities to provide access to education for children in their own languages through schools maintained by the minorities themselves, by supplementing it with a mandatory study of Ukrainian in a volume determined by the Ministry.