Serfs or benefits for children? Schoolwork in Ukraine and what to do with it

Alice Smahina

There's commotion in Ukraine again. Parents complain that their children are forced to work in schools. In Odesa, sixth-graders cleaned the flowerbed in the schoolyard during work lessons, in the Cherkasy region, children harvested in a village and carried heavy pumpkins instead of lessons. Teachers didn't respond to children's complaints of ill health, and neither children nor parents were warned about hats or change of clothes for this type of "educational process." In different parts of the country on weekends, local authorities, in agreement with the school administration, happily hang on to schoolchildren cleaning parks and squares, using child labor, for which you don't have to pay.

"Dandelions, not children," say those who see nothing wrong with these cases, "you might think they work from morning till night, but have worked with classmates for only one or two hours, and are already whining." At school, children need to acquire upbringing and skills, and work with the class is more fun, and it unites them. Cleaning, taking turns, raking must be valid, so they learn to respect other people's work."

Outraged parents ask: instead of studying/relaxing/doing their own thing, why should a child do unpaid and often hard work, which should be done by regular cleaners, technicians, or even utilities? And why doesn't anybody respect the condition and desires of the students themselves?

Children aren't slaves or serfs, the PARENTS SOS note in the all-Ukrainian community. They go to school to gain knowledge, education, not years of occupational therapy. "Forced unpaid child labor in schools is evidence that neither the administration nor the teaching staff, unfortunately, have read the relevant Law of Ukraine 'On Education.' Apparently, they weren't accustomed to working, working with lawyers, and reading the law."