Students ordered to bring 1 kg of potatoes

A new idea by the Homel city authorities affects both secondary and vocational schools.

Charter97.org learnt it from readers.

“Each students of the medical school in Homel was ordered to bring 1 kilogramme of potatoes. They were not told why. Students are also forced to sweep up leaves and clean parks or the area outside blocks of flats every Saturday,” the reader writes.

Students living in halls of residence are in a more difficult situation.

“We have to pay 30,000 rubles [in addition to rental fees] every month for repair works, to help orphanages or disabled people. The heating season has begun, but we still don't have heating. The radiators remain cold. Construction workers, who are always drunk, live in our hall of residence. Only students are supposed to live there, but they have to rent flats at higher prices due to such persons,” the reader from Homel says.

The students who complain about the arbitrary treatment are threatened with expulsion.

The state shifts responsibility for care of elderly people on school students and their parents. Teachers of secondary school No. 38 on Homel ordered pupils to bring 8-10 potatoes to “help pensioners”. Teachers only threw up their hands in response to parents' complaints: “It's an order from above. We were told to do so. We only fulfil the order.”