The newly appointed educational ombudsman, Nadiya Leshchyk, called for changes in the legislation aimed at strengthening the responsibility of teachers in cases of bullying. She emphasized on the importance of passing a law that would provide for the suspension of teachers found guilty of bullying for a certain period of time.
«This is our position, which is why we also want to see changes in bullying legislation. If the court finds the teacher guilty of bullying, he should be suspended for a year, two or three – it will be decided by the deputies, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. I hope that the draft law on strengthening responsibility will be – said the ombudsman.
In addition, Leshchyk proposed to extend the term of consideration of bullying cases from three months to one year.
“We analyzed court decisions and saw that more than 20% of cases are not considered in courts because the consideration period has expired – 3 months. I will initiate that this term be extended to at least a year, because the courts do not have time, they are overloaded.” – said the official.
The ombudsman also drew attention to the problem of professional burnout of teachers. She believes that teachers who experience emotional exhaustion should seek psychological support or temporarily change their field of activity to avoid a negative impact on students.
