"You're taking 50% of the teachers for forced labor!" Almost the entire staff at a Bataysk kindergarten resigned, and parents stood up for them.
In Bataysk, in kindergarten No. 9, as a sign of protest quit Almost all the teachers were regularly sent to do unpaid work on city improvements: painting bus stops, clearing the grass near the administration building.
Parents stood up for the teachers. At a meeting with representatives of the education department, they demanded an explanation for why teachers were being drafted for such forced labor. One mother expressed outrage at why it was public sector employees, and not the housing and utilities department, who, she said, were allocated funds for utilities.
"You're taking 50% of the staff from the organization that looks after children for forced labor. But the staff is designed to cope with the number of children. What if something happens, and there aren't enough caregivers to look after the children? Who will be held responsible?" another woman added.
"Tell me, our kindergarten isn't on the city's books; we're self-sufficient, as we were told. We spend 30 rubles on renovations per group! We buy everything from cleaning supplies to paint. I can show you all the receipts! And then they close us for a week for these idiotic elections; we have to figure things out with the kids ourselves. And then the teachers have to clean the toilets, and your inspections from the education department add to that: we need to buy mirrors too!" another parent protested.
An education department official explained that involving educators in city cleanups is an "established tradition."
“It’s called a freebie,” clarified the dad from the parents’ group.
Officials promised directly at the meeting that from that day on, teachers would no longer be reassigned to such work. However, they have not yet been able to persuade the resigned teachers to return. Parents say that in some groups of almost 30 children, there will be only one nanny for each, and some groups will be filled by teachers from another kindergarten.
Photo: Bataysk City.