An initiative by Marat Kambolov, the new president of South Ossetia, to get schoolchildren to collect rosehips has drawn public criticism.
Photos and videos shared on the president’s official Telegram channel and in the media show children picking berries from thorny branches with their bare hands. In some images, they are even wearing school uniforms with white shirts. One girl is wearing a lace apron.
Kambolov came up with the idea in a fit of nostalgia for his own schooldays.
“When I saw how many rosehips we had this year, I immediately remembered Khaznidon, a village in North Ossetia. As children, we often ran up the mountain to collect them. It was a normal thing for us: climb higher, gather rosehips and bring them home.
“Of course, back then we didn’t think about vitamins or their health benefits. We simply grew up close to nature and made use of what it gave us. That is why I suggested organising this activity for our schoolchildren,” the president explained.
According to Kambolov, after he issued the relevant order, around 1,500 pupils in Years 8–11 across South Ossetia went out to collect rosehips. They gathered around 250kg in total, which the authorities will “distribute to medical facilities, educational institutions and social care homes”.
“Rosehips are a useful product, rich in vitamin C. People here have always collected them, dried them and brewed them into tea. But for me, this is about something else, too. I want our children to know their land, to see what it has to offer, to go into the mountains and understand that even something as simple as spending a few hours collecting rosehips can be worthwhile.
“We used to run into the mountains to collect them when we were boys ourselves. Years have passed, but rosehips still grow on our hillsides. And it is good to see the next generations collecting them now,” Kambolov said.
However, local bloggers did not share his enthusiasm for passing traditions down through the generations. They criticised the president’s idea as an example of exploiting schoolchildren in the Soviet style.
Blogger Sidamon, for example, wrote that he was curious to know “what genius came up with the idea of sending children to collect rosehips in brand-new school uniforms, when just a couple of months ago Kambolov ordered 10,000 roubles [around $119] to be allocated for their purchase?”
The fact that the children wore school uniforms also led the blogger to suspect that they collected the berries during school hours — or, more precisely, instead of attending lessons.
The author of another Telegram channel recalled taking part in “voluntary-compulsory activities” as a child. However, he said, at least “they organised them more competently back then”:
“At the appointed time, we would arrive at school in work clothes. They would put us on a bus and take us to the apple orchards, where we would be given all the equipment we needed.
“They could at least have given the schoolchildren in the photos some gloves. Anyone who has ever picked rosehips knows exactly why they have ‘thorn’ in their name.”
A teacher at a school in Tskhinval said the school administration had informed pupils in advance that they would collect rosehips on Saturday. She insisted that pupils from her school wore sportswear and gloves.
“That girl in the lace apron apparently didn’t know about it. I don’t know how she ended up there in her school uniform either. She isn’t from our school,” the teacher added.
She suspects the education ministry passed the president’s order on to schools, which then carried it out as they saw fit. In any case, she believes such mishaps are hardly surprising given the chaos surrounding the change of power.
“There is such confusion at our ministry. The government has resigned, and everyone is worried about keeping their jobs. No one knows who is responsible for what.”
The mother of one schoolchild, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she disapproved of the practice of using children as an unpaid workforce. She was unhappy that the school had sent children to collect rosehips without consulting their parents, but said she “didn’t pursue the matter”.
The terminology, place names and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this website.