President Peter Pellegrini received on Monday 35 high school students who won gold, silver and bronze medals in international subject Olympiads. He also met with 22 teachers who helped the students with their preparation. At the same time, students and teachers received an award for success from the Minister of Education Tomáš Drucker in the Presidential Palace.
A great commotion was caused by the gesture of student Simon, who won a bronze medal at the Central European Mathematical Olympiad. After receiving the award, he shook hands with the head of the Ministry of Education, but refused the hand of the head of state. Pellegrini just nodded his head and smiled. The video appeared on social networks and triggered an avalanche of supportive and critical reactions.
Filip Sulík also expressed his opinion out loud. He did so on his Instagram profile. “Not giving a hand to someone who can’t afford to react is as heroic as kicking someone tied on the ground,” thinks the son of politician Richard Sulík. He commented on the topic once again in a video.
“If you despise the head of state, which we all elected in democratic elections, then you despise democracy, or the state as such, or the system. You simply despise some of this. And that’s perfectly fine. Feel free to be an anarchist, a libertarian, whatever you feel, so be it. But if that’s the case, then what are you doing in that institution? Why are you taking over their statues? Why are you flattered on the one hand and despise the head of state on the other? What kind of reverse logic is this?” sent a message to the student.
