Protest Exhibition Held Outside Novi Sad Gymnasium Amid Teacher Dispute

An exhibition of protest photographs, titled "You Light It Up Too," was held outside the Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Gymnasium in Novi Sad, drawing professors, former and current students, citizens, and cyclists. The photos displayed capture moments from various protests supporting teachers and students, as well as scenes from the blockade of the school building.

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It is the duty of teachers to do everything to ensure that students never become victims.

The gymnasium, the oldest in Novi Sad, has been the site of a prolonged dispute, with classes not held for nearly two years. Rima Grujić, a suspended Serbian language and literature professor at the school, addressed the gathering. She invoked the words of Miloje Pavlović, a professor and director of a Kragujevac gymnasium in 1941, who refused to save himself during an occupation, stating, "Shoot, I am still teaching."

Grujić declared, "And they shot. And they shoot today. Not with weapons, but with injustice, humiliation, and the attempt to separate us from our desks and from the children we rightly call our own. But we will not and cannot back down." She asserted that while authorities might try to take the building, suspend them, or silence them, they cannot force educators to abandon the truth or the students they exist to serve.

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Shoot, I am still teaching.

She further stated that professors would wear every tear shed over what has been taken from them as an "order, not a sign of weakness." Grujić emphasized that their tears stem from love, responsibility, and the belief that justice is worth any sacrifice and freedom is not free. She concluded by rallying the crowd, proclaiming, "We will persevere, and we will not be judged by those who hold power today. The future will judge us, and in its court, it will not matter who was stronger, but who was on the side of children, knowledge, and truth. Those who betrayed the children will betray the homeland. We won't give up Jovina, Jovina is ours!"

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And they shot. And they shoot today. Not with weapons, but with injustice, humiliation, and the attempt to separate us from our desks and from the children we rightly call our own. But we will not and cannot back down.

Attendees illuminated the photographs with their mobile phones and lamps, ensuring the images would not remain in darkness. The exhibition featured works by photographers Relja Kanović, Vladimir Papuga, Vedran Bukarica, Deniel Zemanić, and "Jovini Zmajevi." The "Iron Cavalry" cycling group also visited the event.

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You can try to take our building, you can target our classrooms, you can suspend us, persecute us, want to take away our dignity, silence us, try to break us. But one thing you cannot do – you cannot force us to give up the truth and the children for whom we exist as professors.