Grozny residents complain about extortions at schools

At the end of the school year, schools of Grozny announced raising money for renovation of premises, pupils' parents report to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, specifying the amounts from 100 to 1500 roubles. The lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" recommend parents to apply to the Prosecutor's Office.

"Since the end of April, they started collecting money: 1500 roubles per parent. Officially, they say that parents are not obliged to pay for repairing the school, classes or something else, but in reality, it's the other way around," said Petimat, a resident of Grozny.

Teachers of Grozny schools admitted that money is being raised for class repairs.

"We were simply told at the end of the school year that class repairs would be needed, and that's all. And our bosses don't care how the form master would do it. Hence, we have to collect money from parents," Sultan, a school teacher, says. According to his story, instructions to collect money from parents for class repairs come from school bosses.

Forced fundraising in schools is contrary to Article 43 of the Constitution, which guarantees free secondary education, Yulia Fedotova, a lawyer of the "Pravo-45" Moscow human rights organization, has pointed out, advising parents and teachers to contact the Prosecutor's Office.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 7, 2019 at 00:29 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.