‘If You Don’t Give Money, Your Child Will Be Out Of School?’
- 27.05.2019, 15:14
What does “voluntary” charity look like in Belarusian schools?
The reader of ex-press.by wrote to the editor about the problem of “voluntary” charity in the Barysau school.
“The excesses in our education system have long been a proverbial story. Therefore, I want to offer such news for the publication. The newspiece was sent to me by a person I know, whose child is studying in one of the educational institutions of Barysau,” the resident of Barysau wrote to the editor.
- To be honest, it immediately made me fairly indignant - yes, we need charity, yes - this is a noble cause. But any forced deeds turn the best undertakings into an absurdity, and this must be unrooted at the very start!
In principle, the entire news is contained in an attached screenshot containing the correspondence in the messenger in the chat room of the parent group of one of Barysau’s educational institutions, after reading which I would like to say: the “voluntary charity” in Barysau schools is just pulling money from the parents, under pressure:
Down with the teachers who did not raise money and “do not know how to work with their parents” ! The phrases written by a member of the board of trustees (and she, apparently, is the head of the parent committee in one of the classes) are especially revolting, I quote: “I understand, we may be outraged that the state or the education department owes us something, but we will not achieve anything, and let the teacher down!”
Or more: “The teacher is very modest in this regard, she does not demand, but hints, asks. I know there are others who set the question in a hard way. ” I wonder, what ius this “hard way”? If you don’t give money, your child will be out of school? What else will this absurd theater come to in our “popular” education system?! ... ”
The reader’s letter is commented by lawyer Aleh Matskevich:
- The existing normative acts in the form of decrees of the Ministry of Education regulate issues related to the activities of the school’s parental committees and school’s board of trustees. The attraction of funds for the activities of educational institutions is derived from the competence of the work of the school’s parental committees and is entirely under the authority of the board of trustees.
Accordingly, it can be said that any attempts to organize the collection of funds, even without participating in their direct accumulation, are illegal on the part of other bodies and initiative groups. Moreover, they are illegal, given the compulsory procedure for chipping in the money for the needs of the school.
In cases where individual parents, or representatives of an educational institution who do not have the corresponding authority, or who act in excess of their authority, violate the law on raising funds to support the activities of the school, you should file complaints with the school authorities, territorial bodies of the Ministry of Education, the prosecutor's office.