You can’t beat a booby with a whip – Kommersant Newspaper No. 9 (7454) of 01/19/2023

In the Stavropol region, a public discussion has unfolded on the topic of whether it is appropriate to use corporal punishment in educational institutions. The father of a student at a local cadet school said on social networks that an educator officer hit the teenager with a whip – it turned out that this was a common practice in an educational institution. The teacher was fired, law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case against him for inadmissible treatment of a minor in a general education institution (Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). However, some parents demand that the supporter of corporal punishment be reinstated at work: they see nothing wrong with using the whip and believe that the teacher made “real men” out of children. And representatives of the public organization “Parents’ meeting of Stavropol” insist that such methods should be practiced in all schools.

Denis Serba, a resident of Stavropol, complained on social networks about the methods of education at the cadet school named after General Yermolov. He posted a photo of his sixth-grader son with a red welt across his back. According to the father, the child was lashed at school “a couple of days ago.” Mr. Serba specified that the rules of the cadet class allowed corporal punishment.

“Upon admission to this, everyone agreed, both parents and children,” admitted Denis Serba. “True, I thought that this could happen in some very extreme case. But in fact, they received a whip for some trifle.

The father wrote that he raised this topic in the school chat, and was extremely surprised by the reaction. It turned out that many parents consider such methods of education to be correct – and they can “pour extra” into the child “for what he indulged in and received.” “And then we wonder why relationships with children are bad and why the child grows up insecure,” the man concluded. “In order for the child to grow up psychologically stable, self-confident, we, as parents, must always be on his side.”

The publication was quoted by local media, after which Denis Serba deleted the post and refused to give any comments. Nevertheless, Stavropol Police Department No. 3 began checking the incident. The prosecutor of the Stavropol Territory, Yuri Nemkin, also instructed his subordinates to conduct an audit. As Kommersant was told in the press service of the regional prosecutor’s office, “an assessment will be made of the activities of officials of the institution for compliance with the requirements of the legislation on education on the use of unacceptable methods of education.” And the Industrial Department of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Stavropol Territory has already opened a criminal case on the fact of unacceptable treatment of a minor in a general education institution (Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

The head of Stavropol Ivan Ulyanchenko instructed to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the cadet school.

“Unfortunately, the fact of the physical impact on the child was confirmed,” she reported. about. head of the city education committee Evgeny Volosontsov.

According to her, two employees of the school have already been fired: 39-year-old officer-educator, OBZH teacher Yevgeny Shmakov, who used the whip, and his boss, deputy director for educational work. School director Nikolai Panin was reprimanded. Mrs. Volosontsova stressed that it is simply impossible for an educational institution to have a document on the right of a teacher to beat a student with a whip. She called the case with the cadet school “isolated” and “not in line with the spirit of Cossack education”, which carries a “completely different message” and should charge children for a “positive emotional attitude”.

However, already on Tuesday, the parents of some school students held a meeting against the dismissal of Yevgeny Shmakov. A collection of signatures for his reinstatement at work has begun.

At the disposal of Kommersant there are appeals addressed to the director, where on behalf of parents and students it is said that the dismissed teacher was “the best friend and educator”, who taught “to shoot, disassemble AK-47, knit knots, assemble tents and be honest and hardy “.

He is thanked for discipline in the classroom, for organizing the school boxing section and for the fact that he “forms real men from our children.” The authors of the appeals ask not to apply penalties to Mr. Shmakov, as they consider “the applied method to be acceptable education.” According to the defenders of the dismissed teacher, the lash “did no harm, but on the contrary, only for good.”

Parents should have understood that they were sending their child to a Cossack school, that is, to a specialized institution “built on discipline,” Alexander Zhambotov, head of the Stavropol Parents’ Assembly public organization, told Kommersant. He called the use of the whip “the resumption of educational, and not just educational functions in educational institutions.” According to the head of the “Parents’ meeting”, such a method of education cannot harm the “future man” – provided that it does not harm health. Mr. Zhambotov believes that it is better for the Serb family to transfer their son to another educational institution if they do not approve of the procedures established at the Yermolov school. “In principle, I would resume such practices in ordinary schools,” he admitted. “Because poor teachers are shocked by the shamelessness of modern students. Children should have a limit of permissibility, and, accordingly, teachers should have leverage to curb them.”

The governor of the Stavropol Territory, Vladimir Vladimirov, also commented on the incident, saying that “this is unacceptable” and “whoever uses such methods will definitely not work in our education system.” “We will inspect all regional institutions of this type. Children must be protected. We will do everything for this,” the governor said. However, in the comments under the publication, a discussion between supporters and opponents of corporal punishment at school began with renewed vigor.

Alexandra Larintseva, Pyatigorsk