Students and Parents at Jovina Grammar School Ask Patriarch Porfirije to Help Reinstate Dismissed Teachers

Students at Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar School in Novi Sad and their parents have turned to Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije for help after teachers were dismissed.

In a letter to Porfirije and the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, they said they were deeply concerned about the situation at the school, which they described as a longstanding symbol of education, knowledge, work and the upbringing of young people.

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We ask you, as the highest representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in accordance with your spiritual and moral mission, to consider everything happening at Jovina Grammar School and publicly call on the relevant institutions to thoroughly, impartially and responsibly examine the director’s actions and all the circumstances surrounding the teachers’ dismissals.

The students and parents asked church leaders to publicly urge the relevant institutions to examine the director’s actions and the circumstances surrounding the dismissals thoroughly, impartially and responsibly. They also asked that the teachers return to their posts if no clear and lawful reasons exist for their removal.

The appeal called for conditions that would respect employees’ dignity, students’ right to stable education and parents’ right to have their children learn in a healthy, orderly and fair environment. The writers said they believed the church’s voice could help resolve the situation through reason, truth and justice rather than force, fear and arbitrariness.

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We believe that the voice of the Church, as a voice of conscience, peace and responsibility before God and the people, can help ensure that this difficult situation is resolved through reason, truth and justice, not force, fear and arbitrariness.