Teacher fired for telling children about Freedom Day

Teacher at the Minsk Commercial Education Center SOL Minsk was fired for she had told children about Freedom Day at lessons.

Mariana Hruzdzilovich, wife of Radio Svaboda journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich, has worked for the education center since August 1998. As the fired teacher told the Charter’97 press center, on March 24, students spoke about Freedom Day at the last lesson.

“A girl of 13, who is a member of a pioneer organization, said: ‘I know what Freedom Day is. It is when freaks are gathering and begin shouting,” Mariana Hruzdzilovich reminds. “I couldn’t not to respond to this and explained the children that the anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarusian National Republic is marked by normal intelligent people, who organize peaceful actions.”

According to Mariana Hruzdzilovich, the children listened to the story with great interest.

On March 25, the teacher had a meeting with the center administration. A manager responsible for education process told Mariana she was fired, because she had violated the organization statute. The administration said the student, disputed with the teacher, complained her parents, and her father is a colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Mariana Hruzdzilovich was informed that the students’ parents wrote a collective complaint about “agitation for Belarusian opposition in the education centre”.

“I wasn’t agitating,” Mariana Hruzdzilovich said. ”But children now don’t know history of their country. After my story they began to complain they are forced to join the pro-governmental youth organizations.”