Maxim Lubyanoy: "I'm not sure that only the students and parents are to blame."

      September 25, 2025 13:13 Society

      A Commission for the Protection of Teachers' Honor and Dignity is being created in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The Commission is intended to mediate disputes between teachers, children and their parents, as well as to consider labor disputes. The director of the Research Institute for Problems of Social Governance, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences Maxim Lubyanoi, shared his view on the situation.

      "Over the past decade, with the active development of mass communication means, shocking cases of clearly unhealthy relationships within the social system teacher–student–parents have very often become public. And it is the teachers who have turned out to be the most vulnerable. Many will probably remember a very recent story when a Moscow woman, having met her son’s homeroom teacher in a fitness club shower, caused a scandal. In the parent’s opinion, the teacher had no right to undress in public places. As proof she took several photos of the soaped-up woman and demanded apologies. Or another case. In the Sormovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region a 31-year-old literature teacher found herself in the public eye at the end of 2024 after photos from pole-dancing classes were published. Although the photos were taken outside of school, the teacher received a severe reprimand from the administration. And these are cases only from recent times," the expert recalled.

      "In general, it is hard to imagine that over the many-century, if not millennia-long history of the teaching profession, the authority and respect for these people would fall to such a state — from being almost deified to being powerless. Of course, this is broadly a complex problem; it is the result of education being perceived for a long time as a service, and teachers as service staff. Only in 2023 were amendments made to the Education Law granting pedagogical workers the right to respect for human dignity and protection from any forms of violence and insults.

      I am not sure the blame lies solely with students and parents. We must admit that the quality of teacher training is also declining, which affects young teachers’ inability to establish communication and productive dialogue, and, accordingly, leads to a mismatch of expectations among all elements of the social system," Lubyanoi emphasized.

      "Will the creation of the commission protect teachers? Partly yes. At least from overzealous school administrations that often pander to emotionally sensitive parents and to prevailing public opinion. Will the creation of the commission make teachers’ lives easier? Unlikely. If the commission does not have real power to make decisions or change the situation, this could lead to disappointment and distrust among teachers. Some parents and students may view the commission as a threat and perceive it as a way to evade responsibility, which could cause additional tension.

      However, in any case, having such a commission is better than not having one. The main thing is that it does not become a formality," the expert concluded.

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