Deputy Markov proposed to judge parents who complain about teachers

In the State Duma, as part of the discussion around the submitted draft law to protect teachers from harassment and give them a new social status, they started talking about the fault of parents. Like, mothers and fathers roll “carts” to different structures, and then they overcome schools with checks. These “hysteria and unprofessionalism” of the parent community lead to the fact that schools have recently been shaking from scandals and investigations.

The sensational “law on persecution of teachers” was submitted to the State Duma by Deputy Boris Chernyshev. The problem with school scandals is indicated there, but the wording is vague. Like, “a low level of prestige of the teaching profession in Russian society” has been fixed, and it needs to be raised.

And earlier statesmen tried to do something about the flow of mutual insults and even assault that swept through Russian schools. In particular, to ban video and photography in schools. After all, it is thanks to the plots filmed on the phone that episodes of bullying come out. Through social networks.

And here is a new twist. State Duma deputy Yevgeny Markov believes that it is time to protect the school and teachers from the slander of the students’ parents. “The parent community is becoming extremely hysterical and unprofessional,” the parliamentarian believes. They say that parents “do writing” to the regulatory authorities, and they cannot but respond, they come to school on duty and distract everyone from work.

Stigmatizing parents-crookmakers, Markov calls to bring them to justice for slander and perjury against teachers. And the deputy is the father himself, the father of four children, but with his offspring “nothing that would go beyond some kind of framework” does not happen. I would like to see a school teacher or administrator who dared to deal with the child of a deputy of the State Duma not correctly enough …

But with others, this is how it happens. The latest case is made public on the same day as the “hysterical parenting” news. In the village of Petropavlovsk, Chelyabinsk region, a 62-year-old teacher hit a sixth grader on the head. He ignored her assignments in the classroom, then generally climbed under the desk. The teacher could not stand it and knocked.

The incident became known thanks to the record posted on the social network. There is a continuation: the district prosecutor’s office initiated an audit, the teacher quit. Another story of assault, like a blueprint. And it is clear to everyone that something needs to be done. And the existence of convinced litigants, who, of course, are also found among the parents of schoolchildren, does not affect this situation in any way. Seizure of phones is also not an option – after all, only thanks to underground filming, this problem is clearly visible in schools.

– Such a position, and even in the deputy corps, is very surprising, – lawyer Stanislav Popov comments. What does it mean to “impose responsibility for complaints”?

Any person can apply to law enforcement agencies or state authorities if he believes that his rights or the rights of the person whose legal representative he appears have been violated. If it is proved that the statement contains a deliberate lie, there is intent to slander, then the victim also has the right to punish the applicant in court.

But it is even more surprising and frustrating that teachers are being protected at the expense of children.

All right, citizens write on emotions that the teacher’s children brought him down, so he fights. “Now they are still children”, “they are to blame”, etc. But the deputies-legislators?.. Do they need to be reminded that the principle of protecting the weak side has been adopted in jurisprudence?

The weak side is children, the elderly, others who are somehow vulnerable due to age, health status, social or civil status, category of citizens. A minor therefore should be protected by law to the maximum extent possible. Protection of the weak is a civilizational doctrine, the basis of legality. I would very much like the Duma members not to forget about this.

“Protection of teachers is a hot topic,” says Igor Kirsanov, a teacher of history and social studies from Moscow. Every teacher has been attacked. And I can’t say that I didn’t have harmful students or scandalous parents in all the years of teaching. Still as they were.

Yes, it used to be easier. 20 years ago the discipline was better, the teacher’s authority was higher – and not because people had any other morality. It’s just that in a totalitarian country people are intimidated.

Then the relationship became freer, however, not everyone perceived freedom as a responsibility. Some understand it as permissiveness. In particular, for the child, and at school too. As a class teacher, I have more than once had to discuss with such parents who declare that they are raising a “free personality”. And let’s add inclusion here, children with disabilities in ordinary classes, with whom it is sometimes difficult, and sometimes impossible to manage …

My colleagues and I periodically discuss what to do. Bureaucratic measures save in part: to record events, not to be lazy to write reports to the directorate, to strain the school social teacher. Self-development also helps – to study the methods of psychology, to go through the collective teaching experience. Well, and technical measures – schools need more cameras, control, so that there are no “blind spots”. And it’s easier for a teacher to prove something, and it’s impossible for a child to add something, for that matter.

It is interesting that on the same day, simultaneously with the discussion of the new teacher status and protection, State Duma deputy Oleg Golikov addressed the Ministry of Education with a proposal to open shooting ranges in schools. Probably instead of cameras, and for children to run around the school with weapons. And yet, in the opinion of the deputy, it is necessary to introduce the position of a military instructor in schools and equip separate offices for NVP for patriotic work.