YouTube video in circulation today shows physical and verbal abuse by one of teachers allegedly at an elite school (named after Pushkin) in downtown Yerevan.
I thought that such behaviour by teachers is a thing of past. Apparently, not. And if we believe the video description, this incident allegedly took place at one of the most prestigious schools in Armenia.
No more info is available as of now. Interestingly, this video was uploaded on 7 May 2010, but became known today thanks to its circulation on Facebook.
I can only say that I am so glad that school children in Yerevan started embracing modern technology to fight cases of abuse by teachers. I am so in favour for children using mobile phones. Well done, guys.
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Armenia Ministry of Education has confirmed that the incident depicted on the YouTube video taken place in the school named after Pushkin, as suggested on the video title. Ministry spokesman says they are in contact with the school director to identify the teacher and take appropriate measures. He reiterated Ministry's position that "The Ministry of Education and Science has repeatedly stated that violence in schools is unacceptable and we will do everything possible to safeguard the rights of children, and exclude such cases".
In the meantime, school director revealed the name of that teacher (teacher of history of the Russian language section of the school), and confirmed that the incident took place in March 2010, and followed by discussions of the case at the teachers' council and "apologies" from the teacher "accepted by pupil and his parent". She expressed her 'surprise' as to why this video re-surfaced again now. She says she won't fire the teacher but expects he will resign.
Wow. This is disgusting. I remember my 1st grade teacher being like this too (and she was a woman).
That teacher has now resigned, as reported by the MInistry of Education.
More details via RFE/RL:
Yerevan School Teacher Quits Over Abuse Video
[...] He was swiftly identified as Eduard Gevargizov, a history teacher at the Secondary School No. 8 located in downtown Yerevan. According to the school principal, Marietta Matghashian, the incident took place in March last year.
Matghashian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Gevargizov admitted “disgracing the school” and tendered his resignation “with tears in the eyes” on Tuesday morning. “That is a shocking fact that can not be justified in any way,” she said of his violent conduct.
The Armenian Ministry of Education condemned it as “unacceptable,” while the Yerevan Mayor’s Office, which oversees all municipal schools, issued a “strict reprimand” to the school administration.
Matghashian described Gevargizov as a “very kind and balanced” person who has worked at the school for four years. In her words, the 14-year-old student hit by the teacher now lives in Russia.
The student’s classmates were also full of praise for the disgraced teacher. “It was probably our fault,” one schoolgirl told RFE/RL. “He was exasperated by one of the misbehaving students and reprimanded him once.”
“The teacher was forced to do that. He is not guilty,” said another classmate.
Students from other classes said that such incidents are not uncommon in their school, one of the most prestigious in Armenia. “Our physics teacher throws keys at kids,” claimed one boy.
“No matter how badly we behave, they have no right to slap or insult us,” said another.
What is becoming a 'tradition' in Armenian reality, such video evidence gets removed from the YouTube pretty quickly. What is important is that in all recent cases (like the one above or in case of army abuse video) they resulted in actions from relevant state agencies.
I already managed downloading this video for my archive. From now on, I urge everyone to immediately download any video evidence uploaded into YouTube. I will certainly do that, and if videos get removed form the YouTube without satisfactory actions, I will re-upload them directly into my blog.
Youtube ‘epidemics’ in Armenia: new school abuse video emerged
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