Pavel Sevyarynets’s Mother Fired from Work :: Charter'97 :: News

Tatsyana Sevyarynets, the mother of a political prisoner Paval Sevyarynets, is to be dismissed from a secondary school No. 40 in Vitsebsk, where she had been working for many years as a teacher of Russian language and literature. The head of the education department of Pershamajski district Uladzimer Shloma states that the woman had taken leave at her own cost without authorization, though previously he had allowed her to take a leave for a few days.

As Tatsyana Sevyarynets told to the Charter’97 press-center, in the end of March she had planned to go to Warsaw for a few days to take part in a seminar “Children in the system of education” organized by the Warsaw Center of School Work. The woman had written an application and asked to grant her a leave for family reasons at her own expense on March 26-31. The schoolmaster signed the application, however, according to rules, the chairman of the district education department Uladzimir Shloma had to approve it. The official hadn’t been making a decision for several days. When Tatsyana Sevyarynets called him, he told that he would sign the document, and told her to take a leave. However, despite of guarantees, on March 23 it turned out that the document hadn’t been signed by the chairman of the district education department.

On Friday, on the last working day of the week, Tatsyana Sevyarynets called Shloma many times, but he was not answering the phone. When she came to the education department, the official refused to talk to her. Having no other way out, Tatsyana Sevyarynets addressed the city education department. She was told there that her application should be satisfied, and she could take a leave without problems.

On March 25 Tatsyana Sevyarynets went to Minsk, and then to Warsaw. When she came back, all her classes where cancelled. She and schoolmaster were summoned to the chairman of the regional education department. During the conversation Shloma told that he had been called from the KGB and told that in reality Tatsyana Sevyarynets was in Minsk and in Warsaw, and there were no “family reasons”. By the way, as for family reasons, in Warsaw Tatsyana Sevyarynets have not just taken part in a pedagogical seminar, but visited the grave of her grandfather, an Orthodox priest. However, the woman was asked to write explanatory document.