In Chernivtsi, a teacher called a student a beast for speaking Ukrainian: government reaction

At Chernivtsi Lyceum No. 5 'Oriyana', a geography teacher during a lesson, when a student asked to switch to Ukrainian, called him a 'beast'. The incident occurred when the teacher was speaking with the class in Russian, despite the state requirement regarding Ukrainian as the language of the educational process.

The video of this lesson was posted on a Telegram channel, and following its dissemination, the city authorities reacted. In particular, the head of the education department of Chernivtsi, Iryna Tkachuk, stated: 'The twelfth year of war... A teacher, an educator, who should bring light and truth to children... When asked by a student to speak Ukrainian, calls him a 'beast'! ... I don't know how the parents reacted to this, but I am convinced that such 'educators' cannot work in a Ukrainian school.'

The head of the regional office of the State Service for Quality of Education in Chernivtsi region, Oksana Paliychuk, expressed a strong position: 'Here the position can only be unequivocal – dismissal!', she noted, emphasizing the violations of Ukrainian laws 'On the functioning of the state language' and 'On education' (Article 7, which stipulates the state language of instruction).

The director of one of the schools in Kyiv region was dismissed due to violations of language legislation, according to which the language of the educational process is exclusively Ukrainian.

As a result of the conflict at Chernivtsi Lyceum, the geography teacher called a student a 'beast', causing outrage among the public and authorities, and leading to demands for her dismissal for violating Ukraine's language laws and educational standards.