Occupiers are spreading fake news about the school year in Melitopol

lebakcyber.net

The occupation authorities of Melitopol are spreading fake news about the new school year in the city, which is supposed to start on September 1. This is reported by 061.ua project Verified. Zaporizhzhia.

According to the project, on August 9, Galina Danylchenko, collaborator and head of the occupation administration of Melitopol, posted a video on Telegram, in which she says that 21 schools will operate in Melitopol. "Over 8,500 pupils will study there. The largest school in terms of students enrolled is #15. There are 8 parallel classes. Melitopol teachers are undergoing advanced training courses in russia. Seminars for teachers are organized in Yevpatoria, Dzhankoy, and Moscow," the collaborator's post reads.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov explained why this statement can not be true. On August 10, he said on the air of United News that there were only 20 schools in Melitopol before the start of the war. Moreover, the occupiers talked about closing them.

To confirm of this, "Verified. Zaporizhzhia" provides a July 11 comment of the head of the "fake education department" of Melitopol, in which she asks the parents of schoolchildren to decide on the schools where their children will study. In particular, at 00:37 in the video, the pseudo-official says that the premises of the school #16 will not be used as a general education school.

Also today, on August 11, in a comment on the "Apostroph" TV channel, Fedorov reminded that in Melitopol "more than four schools are occupied by the military and are used as barracks, ammunition depots, and parking lots for the enemy's equipment."

"They also do not have enough teachers to work in 21 schools, because the collaboration in the education field in Melitopol is low," he added.

This thesis was confirmed by the director of the Department of Education and Science of the RMA Lyudmila Bukharina. During the briefing held at ZNU last week, answering a 061 correspondent's question regarding the number of collaborators among teachers in the temporarily occupied cities (Berdyansk, Melitopol, Enerhodar), she said, "The percentage is small, currently all these issues are being dealt with by law enforcement agencies." She did not name any specific figures, referring to the fact that criminal proceedings are open and there are situations where information is being verified by the authorities.

"From September 1, children will not be allowed out of the temporary occupied territory, the occupiers are visiting the apartments of teachers and homeroom teachers and forcing them to bring pupils to schools. But thanks to our teachers, all schools will open online and applications are already being submitted. That is, we are providing an alternative. I am 100% sure that the ruscists will fail to organize the school year," Ivan Fedorov said during the news telethon.

By the way, all teachers (both those who left and those who stayed in the cities but did not go for collaboration) will keep their salaries that are being paid from the Ukrainian budget.

The project is being implemented by the NGO "Institute of Mass Information" and 061 and is financed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation within the framework of the program to support independent mass media in the Eastern Partnership countries with the assistance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom.