Teacher Fired

FIRED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH

By Stephen Wilson

 

A Russian professor has been fired for

sending a letter demanding that the

current Prime Minister clarify why the

wages of local teachers have not been

adjusted in line with inflation since 2012.

But no explanation was forthcoming.

Instead , the teacher was dismissed.

Perhaps the prime minister felt he had

better things to do such as feeding his

adorable ducks on his estate. The teacher,

Victor Makarenko, is a professor from

Taganrog Matellurgical college, who was

dismissed by the director, has 40 years

of teaching experience behind him. The

open letter ,which was published by Red

Vesna news agency, completely exploded

the myth that the May declaration of 2012

which promised to double the wages of

teachers had been fulfilled. Even

President Putin, in what was a crass

understatement, claimed at a conference

last year on 14 December, 2017

that 7% of teachers had not been given

the promised increase.

In the letter, the teacher asks why the

Rostovskoi authorities violate article 134

of the Labor code which stipulates that

salaries of teachers must be increased in

line with inflation. The letter declares:

'If absolute pay for 5 years has not grown

by a single kopek the reported rate of

inflation has reached double figures... the

real existing pay has decreased one and

a half times. ' In fact teachers are existing

below the poverty level earning as little

as 8,289 rubles. Makarenko points out that

just to raise salaries to the poverty level

the state would have to increase it by 40%.

 

The government claims that it has raised

the national average of teachers to

30,000 rubles a month, but whenever

anyone mentions those figures to teachers

it evokes laughter. To acquire the official

salary teachers would be forced to work

day and night in schools 7 days a week.

They would cease to have any free time.

In fact school teachers are often doing

60-70 hours week just to get by. As a

representative of the Union teacher

succinctly put it to me : "Teachers are

slaves". 

A teacher stated : "Yes, it is

possible to earn 30,000 rubles. If you

forget about your family, forget about

children, work without exception, take

on administrative duties, do a lot of

overtime, and literary spend a lot of

time , day and night at school.'

The reasons for the pay problem has

long been evident. Pay has fallen due

to a deepening crisis, austerity, and

the rising debts which local governments

have been amounting.The total regional

debts which local governments owe

come to a staggering 2.2 trillion rubles.

In order to pay teachers, local

governments are being forced to draw on

private creditors whom they often can't

pay back. The crisis of teachers' pay is

likely to intensify as the crisis deepens.

 

Of course, the likelihood of a pay increase

on the eve of the presidential election can

not be dismissed, but this would represent

a cynical move by the state. Most ministers

live in a world of their own where they

prefer to hear what they want to hear!

 

To borrow a phrase from Charles Dickens,

'A leprosy of unreality' surrounds Russian

members of the Duma. Some of them

only learned about the plight of teachers

one year ago and even then they found

this injustice difficult to grasp.

Victor Makarenko only published what

was well known to most teachers and

what even some ministers actually admit

though prefer to understate or play down.

 

Victor Makarenko must be reinstated

immediately and the Director called to

account for grossly violating the law on

freedom of speech and the press. If

need be, mass protest in the form of

demonstrations and strikes may have

to be used to wake up some deluded

directors that that they can't fire teachers

on a whim just like a spoiled child breaks

up a toy which hurts him at a nursery!

Medvedev should start feeding teachers

and not just the ducks!