The Board of the Ministry of Education and Sciences of Tajikistan has decided to toughen measures against holding the “final school bell” celebrations. According to the labor code, teachers will be punished by reprimand or dismissal.
“All attempts to abolish the “final bell” and “Idi Alifbo” (ABC farewell) celebrations have yielded no results. The celebrations have been conducted and vast sums of money have been collected from parents for gifts and so on,” Abdujabbor Aliyev, the head of the secondary education department in the education ministry, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
“To stop all these extortions the ministry board has adopted decision to toughen measures against teachers and headmasters failing to enforce the ministry’s decree abolishing the “final bell” celebrations. The ministry personnel department and education departments at the local level will control the implementation of this decree,” Aliyev said.
According to him, strict measures will be taken against teachers and headmasters, up to dismissal.
Aliyev says that parents applied to them again recently saying that some schools have begun collecting money for vignettes and gifts for teachers. “Measures are already being taken against teachers of headmasters of those schools. We intend to put end to all these extortions,” the education official noted.
He further added that many parents last year allegedly thanked them for abolishing the tradition of the “final bell.”
Recall, the name of the final day was changed from “final bell” to “bell of maturity” in 2007 and the date pushed back from May 25 to June 7. That provision was accompanied by a ban on parties in restaurants, whip-rounds for graduating students, gift-giving and mass outdoor gatherings.
Under a novelty introduced in 2015, the headmaster’s final address was accompanied by the reading out of a ministerial decree detailing the rules regulating graduating exams, not exactly setting a celebratory note. That same year, parents were denied permission to attend final bell proceedings, as was previously customary.
On May 24 2016, the Minister of Education and Sciences of Tajikistan, Nouriddin Said, issued the decree abolishing the tradition of the “final bell,” wherein graduating secondary school students celebrate their last day of class.
Terms ended on June 7, but instead of the usual merriment, students last year simply attended class
The ban on grand last-day celebrations is reportedly based on concerns that some parties can on occasion get out of control. Some students mark the day by riding in cars, often recklessly and great speed, around their neighborhoods and on occasion cause fatal accidents.
