A teacher in Siberia has apologized after telling her students to take selfies while visiting the graves of their relatives as proof they were not bunking off class.
The teacher at Kemerovo State University warned students in a social media post that they should be ready to supply photographic evidence of their trip to the graveyard because "classes had not been cancelled," the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.
Students were given time off on Tuesday in order to celebrate Radonitsa, a Russian Orthodox holiday that commemorates the dead with some believers marking the day by visiting the graves of their relatives.
Vladimir Gershgorin, director of Kemerovo State University, said it had been a mistake for the teacher to ask her students to supply photographic evidence.
"She has already withdrawn the post [on social media networks] and apologized to the students, and wrote to me with an explanation," Gershgorin was cited as saying by Interfax.
"Of course, the teacher will be punished. Most likely, I will give her a reprimand. But I will not fire her," he added.
