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Mikolaj: School Headmaster May Lose Job if Patriot Act Is Not Followed
Sunday 07 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
(STV, March 7, 'O pat minut dvanast')
A headmaster of a school failing to abide by the provisions of the Patriot Act, as drafted by the Slovak National Party and enacted by Parliament earlier this week, may lose their job, Education Minister Jan Mikolaj (SNS) said on Slovak Television's (STV) politics show 'O 5 Minut 12' ('5 Minutes to 12') on Sunday.
"The State School Inspection will carry out inspections, upon finding a failure to adhere to the law it will issue a warning, and if the headmaster doesn't follow this warning, the State School Inspection has the power to table a proposal on the headmaster's dismissal, while the proposal must be followed by whoever runs the school," said Mikolaj.
No other penalties have been included in the law, because this might make the situation concerning the law complicated and sanctions are not the purpose of the law, said Mikolaj. "Patriotism is a comprehensive process that expresses one's relation to one's nation, state, history, personages as well as to the present day," said Mikolaj.
He added that in order to prevent misunderstandings and misinterpretations over the law, a directive will soon be issued where the specifics regarding, for instance, dimensions of the state symbols as well as their place in a classroom, will be included.
Head of Parliament's education committee Tatiana Rosova (Opposition SDKU-DS party) said that she doesn't oppose the idea of having "nice rules on how to use our state symbols at schools or give our anthem the place it deserves. However, she dismissed the manner in which the act stipulates the rules. "It's somewhat of a political gesture related to the upcoming election," she said.
She backed her statement by saying that "a game on who's a better Slovak is not fair" and added that there's no need to have act on promotion of patriotism.
As well, a problem lies in the discrepancy between SNS' actions and its statements. "One who's robbing his motherland and goes drunk into Parliament can't be a patriot," said Rosova, adding that she was referring to SNS chairman Jan Slota.
"How dare you offend the SNS chairman! You'd better stick to your own chairman (Mikulas Dzurinda) who has had to step down from the post of party election leader over corruption," snapped Mikolaj.
Rosova also stressed that the Act may place a substantial financial burden on schools. By way of example, she noted that the cheapest Slovak flag costs €15.
Mikolaj disagreed and said that purchasing one classroom with items as stipulated by the law won't cose more than €10.
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