Truth-tellers are not needed

Andrei Demidov is one of those teachers who signed an appeal to their colleagues - election commission workers. The appeal says that any teacher who is pressured and forced to participate in falsifications can talk about it, and they will definitely get help.

During the last Duma elections, we published the same letter, which also called on people not to give in to pressure and complain to us. We, in turn, will try to provide maximum protection and publicity, and will be ready to provide information, legal and moral support. We cooperate with Citizen Observer, and the teacher will be able to call their hotline and report violations. During the last elections there were no appeals as such, although after the fact it turned out that there were falsifications on the part of teachers as well. The most famous case when a teacher refused to falsify is, of course, Tatyana Ivanova from St. Petersburg.

One can say about the teaching community that it is quite conservative, inert and age-old. At the same time, it reacts very clearly to public opinion, to what kind of reputation it has. Unfortunately, this reputation has fallen. And not least because after the last elections, the topic of teacher fraud received a very large resonance. Even if 1% of teachers in Russia falsify, everyone receives a blow to their reputation. I know that not everyone will risk signing our appeal, but I know that the majority supports us.

From my own observations and the stories of friends, I can say that people who join election commissions are either people who are looking for profit (we’re not even talking about bribes, but what they basically pay), people who would like to earn a good reputation in the eyes of the director, or even get some kind of promotion. There are a lot of young guys. But I understand them - they are looking for any part-time job on the side.

I am not called to the election commissions, I was only an observer. Because the formation of the commission is based on the tasks that need to be solved. I don’t want to say that all commission chairmen are criminals or people prone to crime. But people who are capable of creating problems, people with a reputation as truth-tellers and lovers of truth, are not invited there. The teachers who signed this letter are people known, if not for their political views, then for their willingness to defend their rights and the rights of others. But the average teacher generally tries to stay away from all this, because he does not feel the strength to fight and climb the barricades. There is always the possibility, under one pretext or another, to refuse the “honor” of being a member of the election commission.

The example of Tatyana Ivanova does not inspire everyone. She was not reinstated to her previous place of work (although she herself did not want to, because it is morally difficult to work under the supervision of the person who squeezed you out). She is under threat of a fine, and going to court is very much on her nerves. Someone pays attention to this and thinks: why do I need this? Why lose your job and then have so many problems? On the other hand, when we saw her recently, she felt very cheerful; after all, telling the truth is easy and pleasant, but being an accomplice to a crime is unpleasant and dangerous. Tatyana Ivanova is doing well, one page of her life has closed, another has begun, but I want to emphasize that this is a page outside of school. The system turned out to be stronger and squeezed the person out. This, of course, shouldn't be the case.