A Director of a Lyceum in Chelyabinsk refused to submit data about schoolchildren from the Caucasus to the police

Information appeared in Russian blogs and mass media that a police officer in Chelyabinsk made an inquiry about schoolchildren natives of the Caucasus in the educational institutions. Representatives of the Public Chamber of Russia are currently going to look into the situation.

The information that Julia Penzina, Chief of the section of the underage of police department No 5 (Central district), requested the data of pupils of Caucasian nationality from the Director of physical and mathematical Lyceum No 31 Alexander Popov came from a blogger under the nick of lupus00 on "LiveJournal".

"The Director of one of the best physical and mathematical Lyceums in the country received a letter from the Department of Interior Affairs with a request to submit lists of "people of Caucasian nationality" (this was exactly the text) with their parents' addresses and data. The Director, evidently, also a poet, gave a remarkable answer: "In reply to your request we report: there is only one nationality in our Lyceum and it is mathematics", the blogger writes.

He attaches scanned copies of the police request and the Director's answer.

The Director of the Lyceum himself said commenting on his answer that it was not the first inquiry of this kind he received from the police.

"I remember 2008 when the South-Ossetian conflict happened (the events of August, 2008, when armed confrontation between South Ossetia and Georgia with the interference of Russia took place - note by the "Caucasian Knot"). Then the Georgians were searched for and we received a similar request at school. I answered: "I found no Georgians. There are some Khazars and Polovtsians. Shall I count them or not?". Then they told me in the Ministry where to get off", Alexander Popov said.

"The adults always bother the school with their flubdub: the politicians with the election, the education officials with confession, the police with nationality. So look, mathematics is the only bomb shelter from all this adult nonsense! We should hide the children in mathematics", "AiF Chelyabinsk" quotes Alexander Popov, Director of the Lyceum, Honoured Teacher of Russia and member of the city Public Chamber.

He states that requests of this kind are coming to other educational institutions of the city, too.

Police Department No 5 of Chelyabinsk and Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Chelyabinsk region failed to produce an operative comment on the reasons for collecting data of the schoolchildren. Members of Public Chamber (PC) of Russia are already informed of the situation, "Izvestia" reports.

The newspaper points out that PC completely supports the decision of the Director of the Lyceum of refusal to provide the data requested and will direct an inquiry to the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Chelyabinsk region in order to find out the purpose of the action and the person who ordered to start it.

None of the data that goes beyond the scope of legal protection of personal data can be made public without the consent of a pupil's parents, member of PC Sergey Volkov says.