Governor does not exclude pressure on Kharkiv teachers

The Head of the Kharkiv Regional Administration, Mykhailo Dobkin does not exclude the possibility of cases where teachers were forced to join the Party of the Regions under threat of dismissal.

He spoke of this during a traditional meeting with journalists from several regional and national publications.

Dobkin explained the cases of pressure being due to staffing problems in the Party of the Regions and the wish of certain party members to win points with the party management.

He said that this was not a systematic thing, and that those using such methods had made a mistake “and this is a mistake since it doesn’t bring us supporters, but only antagonizes people.”

He said that “a person who artificially pushed (people) into the Party of the Regions would be at very least demoted.

As reported here, educational workers in the Kharkiv region have complained that school heads are being dismissed for refusing to join the Party of the Regions.

Deputy Head of the Smirnivsk Educational Complex of the Losivsk District Council, Larisa Kochan says that she resigned herself. She says that she simply didn’t wait to be personally asked to change her political preferences. The teacher of Ukrainian Language and Literature who was “Teacher of the Year “ in 2009 is at present a member of a political force in opposition to the government. She says that in the school where she works the administrative pressure is already palpable and not all the teachers are able to stand up to it. (more information here: http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1286370549 )