Parents of students at a Makhachkala gymnasium have spoken out against the change of principal.

Participants in an appeal to the heads of Dagestan and Makhachkala demanded that the director of Makhachkala Gymnasium No. 35 in the village of Leninkent not be replaced, threatening to remove their children from the school if the current director is fired.

Parents of Makhachkala Gymnasium No. 35 addressed Dagestan Head Sergei Melikov and Makhachkala Mayor Dzhambulat Salavov, according to a video published late in the evening of February 1 by the Telegram channel "Chernovik 2.0."

They noted that the school was previously headed by Honored Teacher of Russia and Dagestan Chakar Medzhidova, and that current director Ali Aliyev, who has led the school for two years, is continuing her legacy. Under his leadership, the school's students continued to win first place in competitions and olympiads and presented at conferences. "We believe someone who hasn't worked here and doesn't understand our system will lead our school to ruin," stated one of the participants in the appeal.

According to her, the students are upset about the change of principal. "The school should do everything possible to ensure that children enjoy going to school," she noted.

"We want to keep the current principal so that he can continue his work," the man stated, adding that if the principal were replaced, he would remove his child from the school. His words were met with applause. "We too," the parents standing behind him chorused.

The participants in the appeal noted the high quality of education.

"I've never seen a school like this. There's discipline, there's order. This has all been built up over the years. I personally don't want it to change," one of the women said in the video.

"Why are you changing it? What's the reason?" asked another participant.

By 12:56 a.m. Moscow time on February 2, the video had garnered 522 views and 12 likes.

The school's website states that it employs nine honored teachers, one candidate of pedagogical sciences, and 40 teachers of the highest category.

In September 2005, the school in the village of Leninkent was reorganized into a gymnasium with an ethnocultural profile. Since August 2006, the gymnasium has been the republic's experimental center for local history, ethnography, and excursions under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Dagestan. The gymnasium houses a local history museum, which contains over 20,000 exhibits, according to the newspaper "Uchitel Dagestan" (Teacher of Dagestan) on December 7, 2020. The "Caucasian Knot" reported that on February 17, 2025, teachers at a school in the village of Khubar declared an indefinite strike demanding the reinstatement of the previous school principal. Village residents also held a rally demanding the reinstatement of Magomedrasul Isakov and the dismissal of the current principal, Zulumkhan Gadzimagomayev. Most students are absent from classes, and their parents support the demand for the reinstatement of the previous school principal. Activists have stated that if their demands are not met, they will hold a protest in Moscow outside the presidential administration building. At a meeting with residents of the village of Khubar, Dagestan Prime Minister Adbulmuslim Abdulmuslimov promised that the striking teachers' demand to reinstate the school principal would be met. The head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, stated that the conflict in the village of Khubar, where school teachers went on strike, "appears artificial," and threatened to hold the teachers accountable for violating students' rights to education. The teachers' strike over the dismissal of the principal is related to a land conflict, not politics, and Melikov was misled, State Duma Deputy Saigidpasha Umakhanov stated in an address to the Prime Minister of Dagestan. On February 24, 2025, it became known that the principal of the school in the village of Khubar was reinstated in his position after the Prime Minister of Dagestan visited the village, and the teachers ended their strike.