at Jonas Basanavičius Gymnasium in Kaunas on May 9. presidential candidate Eduard Vaitkaus had a meeting with residents. However, high school students protested, not wanting such an event to take place in their school hall.
Community anger
On the Facebook social network, presidential candidate E. Vaitkus shared information that a meeting with residents will be held on May 9 at J. Basanavičius Gymnasium in Kaunas.
It seems that the high school students did not like such an event, so they put up various posters in the premises of the educational institution asking about Crimea, sympathy for Russia, etc.
Facebook photo of Eduard Vaitkaus.
High school students expressed their position with posters that such politicking in an educational institution is undesirable. There were Ukrainian symbols in the hall, and in the corridors there were questions about why E. Vaitkus came to the gymnasium and did not participate in the May 9 events. We remind you that May 9th is Europe Day, but Russia celebrates this day as the day of victory over Nazi Germany.
He did not emphasize the students’ reactions
ELTA contacted Sandra Palšauskiene, the principal of J. Basanavičiaus Gymnasium on Friday, she did not comment on the incident that caused the commotion at the school.
“I won’t comment, because I wasn’t there, I didn’t see it, and I don’t have permission from the municipality. Frankly, I have no comment and I would not want to comment at all,” she said.
For his part, E. Vaitkus did not emphasize the situation at school. According to him, the planned event went well.
“I came to a two-hour meeting with the residents. That the children participated is very good. They asked politely if they could participate. Asked if he could ask questions. Yes, feel free to ask questions. And they read every word from the paper. That they had some kind of preconceived notion? That’s what we’ll do. I think that everything went well and I did not see a conflict”, he told ELTAI.
The hall is reserved through the system
Portal kauno.diena.lt inquired, on what basis can meetings of candidates with residents be organized in an educational institution? If the planned event is unacceptable for the school community, are there ways to avoid such events?
It turned out that the gymnasium hall of J. Basanavičius was booked for the meeting with E. Vaitkus through an open system, which is available to everyone. City representatives acknowledged that sometimes unwanted events can sneak into schools.
As stated by Kaunas Vice Mayor Tomas Jarusevičius, the rental prices of halls and other spaces in Kaunas schools are publicly available on a platform specifically designed for that purpose, through which orders are made – kursportuoti.kaunas.lt.
Justina Lasauskaitė’s photo.
A living civics lesson
The deputy mayor congratulated the high school students who expressed their position. It was a living lesson in citizenship, he said.
“In this case, the hall for the event was not booked on behalf of the candidate, but on behalf of another person. But soon, nevertheless, it became clear for what purpose it was needed this time. To the gymnasium community and especially to the gymnasium students – respect for the expressed civic position. It is obvious that the citizens of Kaunas educated here have critical thinking and strong opinions, which they are able to express openly and boldly.
Therefore, everything is fine with us – the right generation of young people is growing up.
Therefore, everything is fine with us – the right generation of young people is growing up. It can be said that, in a certain sense, there was a living lesson of citizenship education here – no longer theoretical, but real”, said T. Jarusevičius.
He pointed out that Kaunas municipality has already taken the initiative to avoid any kind of politics during events at the beginning or end of the school year, public holidays and other occasions.
“However, it is much more difficult to control which communities and for what purposes gather at meetings outside of working hours. In addition, obstruction or restriction would probably immediately be considered a restriction of freedom of speech, censorship and would attract even more attention where it is probably not needed. The city will look for instruments so that in the future students will not have to defend the spaces of their institution with protests, and instead the children will be able to calmly concentrate on their studies”, said the Kaunas vice mayor about the fact that in the future it will be aimed to avoid opportunities to organize events in educational institutions that are opposed by the community.
Tags: Kaunas high school students revolted appearance presidential candidate school
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