Salihorsk officials misinform people about existence of Belarusian-language kindergarten
Photo by arche.by
The head of Salihorsk
District Council, Lidziya Klishevich, and the head of Salihorsk
District Executive Committee, Aliaksandr Rymasheuski, mislead the
public.
In their March reply to the inquiry of the head of
Salihorsk city branch of the Belarusian Language Society concerning
the equality of the language rights in Salihorsk they stated that
"everything is done in Salihorsk district to ensure to preserve
the status of the Belarusian language". The officials backed
their words by saying that a group with the Belarusian language of
instruction had been established in Salihorsk kindergarten #38 on
parents' request and about 20 children went to it.
The head of
Salihorsk BLS branch Mikalai Sharavar decided to check this
information: "The Internet publication about the appearance of
the Belarusian-language group in the kindergarten. At the same time,
I started getting information that there was no such group there. I
phoned to kindergarten #38 and was shocked to learn the truth. The
group ceased to exist long ago and the educator who used to work with
these children was dismissed.
Taking into account these
circumstances, Mr. Sharavar also puts to doubt some other facts,
drawn in the officials' answer, such as the statement about the
existence of 19 Belarusian-language schools, 10 kindergartens and
pre-school upbringing centers in the villages of Salihorsk district,
visited by 1814 schoolgoers and 821 children. Mr. Sharavar intends to
pay visits to some of these institutions in order to find how well
the rights of Belarusian-speaking citizens are observed in them.
