Parents Of Closed School’s Pupils Didn’t Let Their Children To All School Assembly In Protest

Parents of 10 schoolchildren from the village Dobrogoscha boycotted the 1st of September and left their children at home as a protest.

The miracle, in which the dwellers of Dabragoscha village believed, didn’t happen. On the eve of September 1, furniture was taken out of the local school, the door was locked. And today the yellow busses took the schoolchildren to the all school assembly in the neighboring Paporotnaye village. But not all the pupils went there. Parents of 10 schoolchildren boycotted the 1st of September and left their children at home as a protest, tut.by informs.

– There could have been more of us, but people say that the officials warned – if children are not present at the all school assembly, we will keep a file on their families. Many people got scared, – Svyatlana, a mother of two schoolchildren, says.

Let us remind that, in July, all of a sudden, Zhlobin district executive committee closed a basic school in Dobrogoscha village. The officials explained their sudden decision by the conclusions of experts on the poor condition of the school roof. Now 51 kids have to go for knowledge to Paparotnaye – a village, which is located 15 km from Dabragoscha. But this situation is even worse for kids from remote settlements – Selnaye, Yaschytsy, Zabroddzie and others, which are located 17-20 km from the school in Paparotnaye. As a result, children will have to make trip of 40 km. Parents of the first-graders worry the most.

– So, my daughters will have to be there from 7 a.m. until 4-5 p.m. every day, waiting for the bus which should take all the pupils home. Tell me, what kind of health for my children do they speak about? – Valyantsina, the mother of the first-grader Olya and the second-grader Nastya, wonders. She cannot hold back the tears. Their family has recently moved from Svetlahorsk to Selnaye village. They fled from the city rush and stresses to the still, just to experience all this.

– I know this morning school bus: the children turn into sleepy flies because of the exhaust gases by the time they reach the school. And what to do if a kid is motion sick? How can they study after such trip? – Larysa says. – And when the winter comes there will be even more problems: the bus can break down, or there will be ice on the road, or the gasoline will end. As if we don’t know how it usually happens. What kind of study will it be?

One more serious problem – the teaching in the school in Paparotnaye village is performed in Belarussian language, while the teaching in Dabragoscha was in Russian language. The parents of the pupils worry that their children’s grades will fall.

Nevertheless, already in mid-August, the Deputy Prime Minister Natallia Kachanava said in an interview to the program “Glavny Efir” (“Main broadcast”) on the TV channel “Belarus 1”, that the authorities could not allow the use of the school, which was in critical condition.

However, the Dabragoscha dwellers doubt that the condition is really critical. The locals disagree with the wording of professionals “a 100% wear”. They carried out their own informal examination and claim that the concerns of the experts are greatly exaggerated. People are sure that it’s not about the roof: their school was closed as the unpromising and “expensive” for the district budget, just as dozens of other schools around the country.

The deputy head of the Zhlobin district executive committee Viktar Kastseikau said that the issue on the closure of the school had finally been settled and no more objectors were left:

– All children go to the school in Paparotnaye village. We have already set up the route, we have also allocated a place at the school, where the children, when they come in the morning, can

spend time before the lessons.

– The locals told us that after our publication there were people who offered them help with the repair of the roof, someone wanted to be a sponsor…

– No sponsors addressed specifically us. If people are ready to raise funds for the repair, we won’t be against it. But you should understand that it will require large sums of money. It is necessary to carry out an inspection, to make a design and estimate documentation. We have an example, by the way. A cinema has been recently renovated in Zhlobin. People collected 500 million non-denominated Belarusian rubles, the missing amount was added from the budget. If there are those willing to invest in the school, we are ready to consider the offers.

– There are rumors in Dobrogosche, that the World Bank allocated money for the renovation of the school, but the local authorities refused to accept them…

– The Aid Program does not depend on our desire or interference. The World Bank allocated some amount of money for the repair of the roof of the secondary school in Lukskaye village in 2017, and this proposal is stated in a specific program.

– There’s no hope for the budget of the district, isn’t it?

– We cannot talk about the money – the budget of the district is formed at the beginning of the year. Now the district doesn’t have this amount of money.