The Ministry of Education Proposes a Themed Lesson for Upper-Grade Students on the “Honcharade Case”

16 September marks 26 years since the journalist's disappearance.

The Ministry of Education and Science, together with the Heorhiy Gongadze Prize and the NGO Vchysya, invite teachers to hold a themed lesson for students in grades 9–11 called “The Gongadze Case: When One Voice Is Louder Than the System.”

This was reported on the ministry's website.

You can join the initiative during the Heorhiy Gongadze Remembrance Week, which will run from 14 to 20 September, or during the following weeks. Lesson materials can be downloaded via the link.

“During the lesson, students will be able to: learn who Heorhiy Gongadze was and how his work influenced the development of civil society in Ukraine; explore why the creation of Ukrayinska Pravda became an important event for the Ukrainian media space; learn about the ‘cassette scandal’ and its impact on socio-political processes; reflect on the role of freedom of speech and independent media in a democratic society; discuss the importance of an active civic stance and personal responsibility,” the announcement says.

The lesson format foresees students working independently with primary sources — articles, transcripts, and recordings.

16 September marks 26 years since Gongadze's disappearance.

The Gongadze Case

Gongadze disappeared on 16 September 2000; his decapitated body was later found in a forest in the Kyiv region. The killer, Oleksiy Pukach, was sentenced to life imprisonment 12 years later.

It was established that Pukach killed the journalist on the orders of former interior minister Yuriy Kravchenko, who was found dead 4 March 2005 in his house near Kyiv with two gunshot wounds to the head, as well as on the orders of other officials.

At trial, Pukach partially admitted his guilt and the fact that he acted on the orders of the former minister of internal affairs. But he stated that he did not intend to kill the journalist — his death was allegedly accidental.

The Heorhiy Gongadze Prize is one of the main awards for professional journalists in Ukraine. It was established in 2019 by PEN Ukraine in partnership with Heorhiy Gongadze's family, the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and the publication Ukrayinska Pravda. Previous laureates of the Prize include Vakhtang Kipiani (2019), Pavlo Kazarin (2020), Myroslava Barchuk (2021), Mstyslav Chernov and Yevhen Malolettka (2022), Bohdan Lohvynenko (2023). In 2022 the Special Award was also posthumously given to photojournalist Maks Levin.