The State Duma reminded how to deal with school fees

Before the start of the new school year, parent chats have revived. And the fundraising season for various “class needs” is also just around the corner. The State Duma reminds that there should be no extortion at school. A special “Memo for parents” was posted on the Duma channel on the social network. It says that according to the law, the directorate has no right to demand money from parents for conducting lessons and maintaining the school. Parents are not required to chip in for “curtains”, classroom renovation, furniture, security or stationery.

Another parliamentary “memo” reminds that according to the law “On Education”, all school textbooks and methodological materials (except for notebooks, including workbooks, and the same collections) should be free for children. Free, which is important in our times, for the parents of the students was and remains the school security and security system. And all school equipment, including sports, for physical education lessons. And in case of violations, parents have the right to complain first to the school management or the founder. And if this does not take effect, then “go further”: to the prosecutor’s office, Rospotrebnadzor, Rosobrnadzor, the Ministry of Education, to the deputies or to the court.

On the one hand, even 10 years ago, “curtains” were a common thing, and the image of the teacher Snezhana Borisovna from the sketch committee, who pulls money from her parents for her fur coat, can be said to have entered folklore. And the famous phrase “How can you help the school?” was a thinly veiled bribe. Mass extortions not only for “curtains”, but also for painting the classroom and repairs, cleaning the territory, purchasing new equipment, furniture and boards, and even for a “trip to the teachers on vacation” got everyone so tired that they led to the emergence of a discontented popular movement. And several communities in different cities (Vladimir, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk) with a common credo “no extortions”.

On the other hand, the problems of providing the class with paper, toners, small stationery and various teaching aids very often become a headache for teachers. As September 1 is on the nose, so there are confused questions in public. “Parents don’t want to buy contour maps, but the administration doesn’t pay for it – what to do?” – a young geography teacher with a small salary, but still a big responsibility for the subject, is lost. Or, from the chemistry room they report: “The crane has broken, the office is assigned to me. I don’t know how we will do it, the worker looked and said, the crane needs to be changed ”…

– It’s not even that the mixer or toner is expensive – it’s just that it’s cheap, – says the head teacher of the Moscow school Lidia Leonidova. – The fact is that any purchase by the school must be carried out through a tender. And who will go for it for a pack of teaching aids or one tap? Then, the tender goes on for 2-3 months. The supply manager simply cannot stock up on all the cranes, tables and chairs in advance – who knows what will break there? It is good if the school has a reserve of equipment or consumables for such cases. But not everywhere Moscow and not every educational institution has such an opportunity. So teachers buy every little thing with their own money. Or quietly ask their parents for help.

Interestingly, the legislators themselves do not keep up with their own activities. Returned this year to school labor education. Not only cleaning and caring for the school grounds, but also lessons in home economics, sewing, carpentry. And I immediately want to ask – at whose expense the banquet? Will everyone bring cleaning supplies from home? Summer residents know that shovels and rakes are now not cheap, a wheelbarrow costs 3-4 thousand rubles at all. Tools for woodworking are also not at all budgetary, like any raw material made of wood. Or, here, products for “works” – many in the State Duma are advocating that the tradition of teaching cooking be revived in all schools.

“We have a special format of education at our school, an integration school,” says Marina, mother of 12-year-old Elizaveta from the Moscow region. – There are many children with disabilities in the school, there are also children with cerebral palsy in ordinary classes, with mild autism. And there is for everyone, both boys and girls, the subject “Cooking”. In the parent chat, everyone agrees and brings food. Simple dishes are prepared: potatoes can be fried, macaroni and cheese, chicken soup. This is now, and a year ago we had a teacher who loved complex recipes with unusual ingredients: avocado, asparagus, shrimp, almost with lobsters. At the same time, there was no organization: whoever managed to name something, then drags it. As a result, one family needs to bring salt or rice to the lesson – another shrimp or fish. Or olive oil, or even salmon caviar, which is not cheap. As a result, some parents rebelled and did not want to pay for such products, they wrote a complaint. In my opinion, for such things, either some kind of fund is needed at the school itself. And if not, parents have no choice but to collect money in the chat.