Young Teacher From Rudabelka Takes On To Square, Gets Employed

Blogger Andrei Pauk held a picket in the city center and achieved his goal.

Famous blogger and teacher of biology by education, resident of the district center Rudabelka Kastrychnitski (Homel region) Andrei Pauk held a single-person picket on August 30 in the main square of the town, protesting against the lack of opportunities to find employment by specialty.

“I found myself in a really complicated situation, — Andrei said to Radio Liberty. — My wife and I are raising two kids, while she’s the only breadwinner in the family. We are also paying the loan for the apartment. Nominally, I am an individual entrepreneur, but after they had terminated the agreement for renting premises for a photo studio with me, I was left jobless, in fact. This was the reason why I came out to the square. I was standing in the foye of the House of Culture, hoilding a poster. A pedagogical conference was taking place there. Some teachers smiled at me, told me it was original, others got scared, some asked “How much did they pay you?” But no one wanted to exchange places with me.”

In early August, the activist read in the local newspaper about several vacancies in the district schools. He contacted schools in Harokhava, Lamavitsy, but the vacancies were miraculously closed — it turned out they no longer needed any educators-organizers, or engineers-programmers, or even janitors of the working premises.

“I was ready to be a technician, a janitor, but all was in vain. I addressed to the district executive committee for help, and received a letter, signed by Deputy Chairman Uladzimir Yeliseyeu. He replied that the information about vacancies is changing every day, and I should address to the “administration on labour, employment and social protection of the district executive committee, in due course,” — Pauk said.

Earlier this year Andrei Pauk planned to get employed as a teacher of biology and chemistry to the Liuban secondary school, upon the suggestion of the Department of Education. However, a letter of protest from the school students’ parents unexpectedly arrived to the Department. According to Pauk, this letter could have been initiated by Chairperson of the rural district council Tamara Karol.

In the collective letter, 8 parents of the schoolers expressed their protest against hiring Andrei Pauk as a teacher on the grounds of his “activity”. The signature of one of the ladies was faked, but the local police “covered up” this fact.

Still, the picket brought results. Andrei Pauk was hired as a forest ranger by the Hatskaye forestry.

Andrei Pauk’s “activity” is connected with his active civil position. He created a community in the vk.com social network, which is called “Rudabelka Swank”, and filmed short video reports about the local life. The local officials caught it bad in various songs, theatrical scenes and comments of the readers.

Before that, Andrei Pauk worked at the regional Center for Children and Youth Creativity as a circle leader and an accompanist. He became famous as the author of Ksenia Dziahelka’s hit "I'm from the village".

And now he got a job in the forestry.