Leanid Sudalenka: I’m Ready to Defend the Dismissed Principal

A father with many children and a lawyer spoke out about a big scandal in a Homel school.

I, a father with many children and a member of the school board, also have something to say in connection with the scandal in the Homel school. Homel human rights activist, legal inspector of the REP independent trade union Leanid Sudalenka describes the situation in his blog.

The school is a direct reflection of our society, no matter how much it denies it. When several hundred schoolchildren and adults gather at the school, conflicts cannot be avoided. Moreover, not only schoolchildren can serve as initiators. On the one hand, we have our children, on the other hand, are adults hired to teach and educate our children. Their task is to prevent such scandals at school.

When a teacher with long experience was fired from school because of a conflict with a schoolchild, I wanted to hear what happened. It seemed to me that a teacher had a right to be protected. I am sure we should have listened to both parties involved in the conflict. We were not allowed to do so by sacrificing a disgraced teacher. Only a lazy one did not throw stones at her on social networks...

I stress that the video of the incident is clear - the teacher used a foul language in front of the children, and, no doubt, an unbiased official investigation is required. It should bear a penalty. I am even sure that after the dismissal the teacher had legal prospects to be reinstated in her previous work through the court. Because she was fired for the sake of the immediate moment. Neither the Teachers' Council nor even the principal decided her fate. Officials did that.

I stress that I do not protect teachers, one of my sons had to change school because of the teacher's biased attitude. On the other hand, I know an example when one of my students put the whole school upside down, behaved rudely towards classmates and one of my sons cut him to size. The case then was considered by the juvenile commission, and my child was acquitted.

I am seeking the truth here, but it is barely possible without the involvement of the parties. Today's event brings the situation into a dead end. There is an "election campaign" under way in the country, with teachers at the forefront. They are the ones who ensure voter turnout and count votes. In other words, they provide the authorities with the right result. Could the candidate who is going to run for a sixth term next year act in a different way? He sent a signal that all those who would count the votes could clear hear - I will not let you down!

I'm not going to go into politics. This, as they say, is a new story. A country with manual control has no future. Education has no prospects without freedom. Now I am already thinking about the dismissed principal. What could he have done when officials demanded to sacrifice a faltered teacher?

I do not know under which article of the Labour Code the principal was dismissed, but I am ready to defend him in court. Even if the ruler of the country gave an oral order to dismiss him...