In Belgrade, 27 December 2022
The A 11 – Initiative for Economic and Social Rights and Mažić and Mihajlović families, whose children were placed on the “waiting list” on September 1, 2022, and expelled from the kindergarten in the municipality of Pećinci, inform the public that the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality has determined that the Preschool Institution “Vlada Obradović Kameni” discriminated against children because of the political affiliation of their parents and family members.
We remind you that in this case the complaint to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality was submitted on behalf of S.M, J.M. and N.M, children who were previously enrolled in the Preschool Institution “Vlada Obradović Kameni” and who were illegally expelled from kindergarten at the beginning of September, which their parents suspected was due to their membership in the Democratic Party and their connection with farmers’ protests in Vojvodina.
After receiving the opinion of the Commissioner, Jelena Mihajlović, one of the mothers from Pećinci, points out: “The preschool institution violated the Law on the Fundamentals of Education System, it breached legal provisions in order to find a way to expel our children from kindergarten. All because of politics.”
According to the conducted procedure, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality found that the decision made by the preschool institution to put these children on the waiting list, without taking into account the best interests of the children and the provisions of the Law on the Fundamentals of Education System was unjustified. Despite the preschool institution’s attempts to justify this behavior with reasons such as “termination of the contract by force of law”, the fact that the mother of one child is “unemployed”, that there are “unpaid debts” to the preschool institution, and “limited accommodation capacity”, the Commissioner found that many of these allegations are contradictory and unclear, and even that some of the explanations do not correspond to the established facts.
As stated by Jelena Mažić, one of the mothers of discriminated children, “The Commissioner only confirmed what we as parents tried to prove – that our children were discriminated against because of our political affiliation.” The pre-school institution and its principle have never thought about the children, their interests and their welfare when they made the decision to place our children on the waiting list. “The enrollment committee has never had a reason to reconsider our children’s enrollment at kindergarten because nothing has changed – we are still at the same address, both employed, and we are regularly paying our obligations to the kindergarten.”
In her opinion, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality pointed out that the Preschool Institution “Vlada Obradović Kameni” did not prove that there were justified and objective reasons why the children are on the waiting list and cannot attend the preschool where they were previously enrolled. As pointed out, the pre-school institution did not plea in the proceedings and respond to the allegations and evidence from the complaint that referred to the grounds of discriminatory treatment, nor did it dispute that the parents, or family members, are members of the opposition political party.
Bearing in mind all of the above, it is particularly important to stress that the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality made a recommendation to eliminate the consequences of discriminatory treatment and to return children immediately to attend kindergarten programs in the facilities from which they were expelled; she also recommended that the Preschool Institution “Vlada Obradović Kameni” should apologize in writing to the parents and commit not to repeat discriminate in future.
Finally, Milica Marinković from the A 11 Initiative stated that this association will carefully monitor the implementation of the Commissioner’s recommendation and pointed out: “In this case, it is particularly important that the Commissioner recommended the preschool institution to eliminate the consequences of discrimination promptly and to do everything so that children can continue to attend preschool institutions in those facilities where they were already enrolled. It is a victory for the parents, and we expect that the preschool institution will act promptly in accordance with the law”.
For more information, please contact: Milica Marinković, A 11 Initiative at m.marinkovic@a11initiative.org
