Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Graduate of Kremenchuk School No.3 Natalia Sokolenko, who completed her studies in 1999, is demanding that the "gold" medal be presented to her ceremonially. This was reported by Kremenchuk Gazette.
The medal and the corrected documents are already ready. However, the story does not end there. Sokolenko believes the award should not be handed to her simply in an official’s office, but in a ceremonial setting, as is customary for other medalists in Kremenchuk.
According to Natalia, during her studies she showed excellent results, regularly received certificates of merit, and was considered a contender for the gold medal. But at graduation, instead of the expected award she was given only a regular diploma.
- I was a candidate for the gold medal, I studied excellently, I received certificates every year. And in 1999, the year I graduated, they gave me nothing at all — just a regular diploma, - Sokolenko recalled.
The woman decided not to leave the matter unattended and began a legal battle. In 2021 the court ordered her rights to be restored: to replace the education document, produce a gold medal of the appropriate type, and award it to the graduate. However, enforcement of the court decision took several years. To achieve its implementation, Sokolenko appealed to the State Enforcement Service.
On 20 August she, together with her lawyer, arrived at the Kryukiv Enforcement Service office. They invited the director of Gymnasium No.3, Andriy Pidluzhnyi, and his deputy to the meeting. Representatives of the school brought the produced medal and the new documents. But Natalia refused to accept the award on the spot. Together with her attorney she stated that she wants a ceremonial awarding. In their view, the court decision prescribes not simply handing over the medal, but a full-fledged awarding.
State enforcement officer Natalia Zakharchenko explained that today gold and silver medals are no longer a legally prescribed form of rewarding graduates. Accordingly, there is no officially established procedure for holding such ceremonies. In this matter the enforcement officer does not have the right to independently determine how the awarding should be organized.
- You should have demanded specification of the awarding procedure. The procedure you describe is not normatively approved in any way, - Zakharchenko said.
The gymnasium representative, in turn, said that this year Kremenchuk’s medalists were still honored. According to her, the initiative was shown by Mayor Vitaliy Maletsky, who appealed to the Department of Education with a request to prepare lists of graduates for awarding.
Natalia’s lawyer pointed to one more point. He referred to Article 7 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, which allows established customs to be taken into account in cases where certain rules of conduct are not directly fixed by legislation. The attorney believes that in Kremenchuk a practice of publicly and ceremonially honoring graduates who received medals has formed. Therefore, in his view, it is important not only to hand Natalia the award but also to provide her with the same conditions under which other medalists are honored.
As the publication writes, this story is of principle importance to the woman. The medal received now will be her first, since in 1999 the award was never presented to her. Natalia also wants her relatives and acquaintances who supported her during the years-long fight to be present at the ceremony.
– I would like ordinary things: that they would rejoice for me, congratulate me, that it would be in a festive, ceremonial atmosphere, but the way it happens with other medalists, – the graduate explained.
Thus, after the court decision the dispute moved to another plane. The Enforcement Service considers its task to strictly carry out the court ruling within the framework of current legislation. Sokolenko and her lawyer, meanwhile, insist on a full restoration of justice and equal treatment for her as for other medalists of the city.
On 4 June Kortko briefly described how a graduate from Lviv changed the ending of a school drama by dancing a waltz with a classmate in a wheelchair.
On 4 June 2025 the year in Ternopil a teacher supported her student’s dream: she put on the graduation dress created from his sketch.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Випускниця школи з Кременчука зажадала урочистого вручення "золотої" медалі через 27 років". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: KP.UA.
