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On 21 January, the Сhairwoman of the Accounting Chamber Olha Pishchanska and the President of the Hessian Court of Auditors Dr Walter Wallmann signed a Joint Statement on the civil protection and disaster control in communal institutions of general secondary education.
The institutions completed parallel audits of school safety last year. Thus, from December 2023 to July 2024, the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine conducted a performance audit ‘Civil protection in communal institutions of general secondary education’, including inspection 3103 schools in five regions. In parallel, the Hessian Court of Auditors audited 282 secondary schools in the region.
The Joint Statement presents the findings and recommendations of both audits and compares their results.
In particular, it was found that fire safety in Hessian schools is much better than in Ukrainian schools. In Ukraine, 54% of the tested schools do not have adequate fire protection systems, and 7.8% do not have primary fire extinguishing equipment. In Hesse, however, all schools tested are equipped with such systems.
At the same time, the results for other components of the civil protection system in Ukrainian schools are much better. For example, in Ukraine, 53.1 per cent of schools use the services of qualified security personnel, and 36.9 per cent are equipped with video surveillance systems. In contrast, in Hesse, 84.4 per cent of schools do not use such security measures, and more than 99 per cent do not have shelters (in Ukraine, the respective figure is 41 per cent).
In Ukraine, most schools have evacuation plans (98 per cent) and practice evacuations (90 per cent). In Hesse, there are practically no such measures. Emergency power supply in Ukraine covers 67 per cent of schools, while in Hesse it is 36 per cent.
When discussing the results of the audit, Dr Walter Wallmann noted that the data obtained would help Germany identify key needs to improve civil protection of schools. In her turn, Olha Pishchanska stressed that Ukraine has already taken a number of steps to implement the recommendations of the audit. In particular, the Methodology for assessing risks in the education system related to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation has been approved, the procedure for using subventions allocated for the construction of shelters has been changed, and the security of 402 schools in 9 regions has been strengthened.
The signing of the Joint Statement took place during the 22nd meeting of the Europe Working Group in Darmstadt. The event was attended by representatives of the audit institutions of the federal states of Germany, the Federal Court of Auditors of Germany, as well as invited participants.
In addition, the auditors discussed the results of the international coordinated audit ‘Residential premises for internally displaced persons: facilitating the integration of families at the new place of residence with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany under the martial law’, which the Accounting Chamber conducted jointly with the Federal Court of Auditors of Germany. The results of this audit were presented by Kay Scheller, President of the Federal Court of Auditors of Germany. A joint report will be prepared based on the results of the audit.
During the meeting, the auditors of the Accounting Chamber also discussed the planning of a new parallel audit on the digitalisation of school education with the Hessian Court of Auditors. The audit is scheduled to be conducted this year. In particular, they discussed possible key audit issues and alternative options for sampling the objects to be covered by the audit. According to Dr Walter Wallmann, the new audit will involve more direct contacts between Ukrainian and German auditors.
During the working visit, the delegation of the Accounting Chamber also met with Astrid Wallmann, the President of the Parliament of the State of Hesse. During the meeting, the President of the Parliament of the State of Hesse expressed her support for Ukraine and its people and noted the effectiveness of cooperation between the Hessian Court of Auditors and the SAI of Ukraine. In response, Olha Pishchanska thanked for the words of support and spoke about the role of the Accounting Chamber in the process of controlling the use of international assistance funds.
