At a Lviv school, a teacher called a boy “stupid,” saying that his military father doesn’t care about him.
In families where the father or mother serves, childhood passes in conditions of constant lack of attention, which cannot be filled with telephone conversations, short meetings between business trips and the usual explanations about “important work”. For such a child, school remains a place where he tries to behave normally, although behind this are exhaustion and anxiety for a loved one.
The case in Lviv caused a sharp reaction from society because the schoolboy whose family situation was used by the teacher to humiliate him in front of the class was at the center. In such a story, the child was actually blamed for his father’s service, because of which he was already growing up with a lack of support, adult experiences and a great psychological burden.
What happened in Lviv school
In Lviv school No. 13, a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature insulted a student whose father serves in the army. The cause of the resonance was her words, spoken in front of other children in the class, where the teacher called the boy “stupid” and “moron” because his father, a military man, was not involved in his upbringing.
This incident was reported by journalist Roman Onishkevych, who spoke about the situation with the son of his friend, a National Guardsman. After that, the story became public, and the city authorities announced an investigation into the circumstances.
According to Roman Onyshkevych, during the celebration of the First Bell, the schoolboy’s father turned to the teacher with a request to be understanding of his service and not to reproach the child for it. This is an important fact, since the family tried to prevent possible tension from the beginning and asked to take into account the real circumstances in which the boy lives.
Later, the father learned that the teacher had repeatedly insulted his son. The most acute episode occurred recently, when in the presence of other students in the classroom, humiliating words were spoken to the child.
Onyshkevych also reported that after this incident, the school administration had a conversation with the boy, but the parents were not informed about it. This is written in a letter to the director of the educational institution, which he published.
“You could write off the incident as a sudden outburst of emotions on the part of the teacher and make amends. But it turns out that this is not the first case of similar rhetoric from a “teacher.”
I personally know the student’s father and the boy himself. I know that the child helped his father volunteer when he was a child, when he was not yet at war. And it is very unfortunate that such a disgusting incident happened at a school where many teachers, students, and parents sincerely and selflessly help the military. “That’s why I didn’t want the shadow to fall on the entire teaching staff,” wrote Onyshkevych.
Why this case caused a resonance
This story caused a public resonance because the focus was on the child of a military man, for whom the topic of his father’s service is connected with the everyday experience of life during the war. Because of this, the teacher’s insult in such a case is perceived much more sharply, because he hits the child because of a family situation that he cannot influence and with which he lives every day.
Additional weight to this case is given by the fact that, according to the journalist, the boy helped his father volunteer from an early age even before he went to war. Therefore, the story goes far beyond the boundaries of a school dispute and turns into a public conversation about the attitude towards the children of military personnel in the educational environment.
After information about the incident appeared, the head of the Department of Education and Culture of the Lviv City Council, Andriy Zakaliuk, voiced his position. He reported that in order to clarify all circumstances, a special commission has been created to communicate with those involved in the situation and with the school administration.
“We will receive full information in order to make some decisions objectively and then we will be able to comment. I ask you to be patient and not label one side or another until all the circumstances are clarified. If the facts described in social networks are confirmed, believe me, our reaction will be clear and final,” – said Zakaliuk.
As of now, the inspection has been officially announced, and the final decisions in Lviv are promised to be made after clarifying all the circumstances. Public publicity has already forced the city authorities to react, but the teacher’s actions will be assessed after the commission’s work is completed.
However, it is obvious that the teacher’s behavior seriously questions her professional suitability, since a teacher who allows herself to publicly humiliate a child because of her father’s service demonstrates pedagogical incompetence, ethical deafness, and an inability to understand the harm she is causing to a student. In this case, disrespect for the military also becomes especially noticeable, because the people thanks to whom home life, education, and the work of schools remain possible, actually become the object of devaluation through their own children.
