In Orenburg again closed rural schools

Now the North District. There is a question about the fate of the school in the village of Bolshorod. It is not the first time that villagers have beaten it: in 2020, they also tried to close the nine-year-old, but then people were able to prove to officials that children should study in normal conditions, and school should be within walking distance. Now, a new round of struggle.

The fact that the school is going to close again, people were told recently, appointing a gathering of residents on October 15. According to the representative of the initiative group, they were not informed in advance about the timing, how the children will get to the new place of study, or where the teachers will work. In the resolution of the administration of the Nizhnechelyaev village council, the question was formulated directly: “Do you agree with the liquidation of the Bolshorod branch ...” with the answers “Yes” and “No”. When people began to ask fair questions, the gathering was hastily postponed to October 30. Parents have already sent appeals to the district prosecutor's office, the administration and the Ministry of Education.

Why does the idea of closing a school arise in the middle of the school year, when students find it difficult to adapt and rural teachers find it difficult to find work? Especially in the absence of normal transport links between villages. The arguments of officials boil down to the fact that small schools are expensive to maintain. On the other hand, how are children from small villages worse than those who live in district centers or cities?

This is not the only case in the Northern District. The resolution on the gathering of citizens at the Staroboriska branch of the Bakaev secondary school is also on the website of the administration. And officials find out the opinion of residents on the elimination of kindergarten in the village of Russian Kandyz, said Orenday.

Separately, it is worth talking about the Matveevsky district. After the publication of the Orenday situation in the village of Novouzeli, where they also wanted to eliminate the nine-year-old from the beginning of the second quarter, the prosecutor's office became interested. Here the problem is different: residents are afraid for the safety and lives of children who will have every day to get to school in the neighboring village on a broken, and in bad weather – a swampy road, where traffic regularly gets stuck. The school has not been closed since October 2, as planned, and on October 15, a gathering of citizens took place with the participation of the administration. “When it comes to closing a school, everyone talks only about the economic component – it’s unprofitable to keep it. And no one in the education department or in the administration remembered the safety of our children, who would have to drive down this road every day in any weather! We believe that first we need to repair the road, and only then to talk about the elimination of the school, says the mother of two adopted children Lyudmila. Now residents are waiting for the examination of the road with the participation of the traffic police, after which, possibly, there will be repairs.

Two problems converge here. The first is economic: small schools are really expensive to maintain, and officials see the way out in liquidation. The second is social: behind each school are children who have to drive off-road and teachers who have nowhere to work. And most alarmingly, in both cases, the decision is pushed through without answers to basic questions: how the children will get there, who is responsible for their safety, and why this was not thought of before announcing the closure. People have been fighting for years, some for the right of children to go to their own school, others, tired of this struggle, already in the literal sense for their safety. And they still hope that common sense will defeat dry economic calculation, especially when it comes to children.

And do you think that the closure of a small school can be justified by savings, if the issue of safe transportation of children is not solved instead?