Chechen teachers claim being forced to conduct "spiritual certification"

In Chechnya, teachers of secondary schools are required to conduct "spiritual certification" of young people during weekends. This was reported by teachers of the Shali and Kurchaloi Districts.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 18, the website of the Chechen Parliament reported that by the decision of the leader of Chechnya, in the republic, every person in the age from 14 to 35 years old should pass "spiritual and moral certification" and report about personal religious views and tribal affiliation. Ramzan Kadyrov himself denied the information and called it a fiction.

Nevertheless, according to residents of the republic, the Chechen authorities have not abandoned the idea of "spiritual and moral certification" of young people, and because of the public resonance, they are implementing it under the guise of questioning.

According to teachers of one of the schools in the Shali District, on March 13, they "were obliged to hold questioning of the population."

"The administration of our village and our district police inspector ordered us to conduct a questioning. On March 13, our group of three teachers questioned at least 150 families. (According to copies of questionnaires, they should be filled in by young people and confirmed by their relatives, note of the 'Caucasian Knot'.) Meanwhile, the administration officials were dissatisfied with the number of questioned families," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a teacher of a school in the Shali District.

Another teacher has noted in the course of a conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that "teachers are obliged to carry out questioning of people during weekends, and they are not paid for that." According to the source, teachers "are deprived of their rights", and "they have no possibility to complain."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.