Teachers forced to subscribe to Sovbielka in Slonim

Employees of schools and kindergartens in Slonim district were ordered to subscribe to official newspapers.

On 13 May all the heads of these institutions visited the head of the Education Department of the Slonim district’s executive committee Ciareza Jushkievich and showed subscription lists for Teacher’s Newspaper, district newspaper Slonim Herald, Grodno Truth, Soviet Belorussia and Banner of Youth, the web-site of the human rights center Viasna reports.

She took the subscription under her personal control. Each head of a school or a kindergarten has under pressure personally subscribed to official media and also subscribed his/her organization to it.

Teachers are not happy with such enforcement and they addressed independent Slonim Newspaper. The newspaper has published their complaint and the list of newspapers, which they are obliged to subscribe to. For example secondary schools of Slonim must subscribe to at least 15 issues of Soviet Belorussia, Slonim Heral, Teacher’s Newspaper, the schools of the district – to at least 8 issues, primary schools of the district –to at least 4, preschool institutions – to at least 2.

Not only teachers are forced to subscribe to official media. It was reported earlier that the head doctor of Slonim’s central district hospital Jury Piacielski had ordered all the heads of the hospital’s departments to subscribe to district’s newspaper Slonim Herald.

Forced subscription is a widespread phenomenon in Belarus. These are first of all the employees of state institutions, who are forced to subscribe to official propaganda, - physicians, teachers, workers.