KYIV. March 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Non-governmental organizations (NGO) have stated there are corruption schemes in the Ministry of Education and Science related to budget funds allocated for the needs of schools.

"The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated UAH 200 million to the Ministry of Education and Science for the purchase of school equipment... The funds have been transferred to the ministry and, as we focus on decentralization, this money will be sent to regional education departments, and then the education departments will allegedly decide what to buy," leader of NGO Maidan Information Pavlo Bilonozhko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

However, according to him, the Ministry of Education issued an order, according to which "actually only one executive, one manufacturer, one firm can supply this equipment."

"This company is Engler," Bilonozhko said.

He noted that most equipment in schools have not been updated since the Soviet times, therefore it is unclear what happens with the state funds.

"We do not believe that such a scheme is developed and the attempts to realize it are implemented behind the back of Yatseniuk [Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk] and Minister Kvit [Minister of Education Serhiy Kvit]. Therefore we clearly understand: if these people are responsible for these funds, so they are the names of this problem," he said, adding that the detected problem is "only the tip of the iceberg" of corruption in the education sector.