Fist failure: who will be punished for a fight between a teacher and a student in Buryatia

A fight between a teacher and a student in Buryatia, which became widely known on October 20, caused a huge public outcry. The teacher was suspended from work, the prosecutor's office demanded that the school's management better control the educational process, and Vyacheslav Damdintsurunov, a State Duma deputy from the region, and the teachers of the educational institution sided with their colleague. However, members of teachers' unions and psychologists agreed that the use of physical force against a child should not be allowed under any circumstances. Who can be held responsible for what happened and which one is in the Izvestia article.

What happened in Buryatia

On October 17, a physics teacher and one of the students fought at a secondary school in the village of Poselye in Buryatia. By the beginning of this week, the incident began to be actively discussed on the Internet, where several videos of the fight appeared at once. One of them shows a teacher and a boy boxing in a classroom. There is laughter off-screen, but it stops: the teacher punches the child in the stomach several times. There is another video from the school locker room: the teacher is lying on the floor, the child is strangling him, and other students are trying to separate them.

Ekaterina Mizulina, director of the Safe Internet League, quoted an eyewitness about the beginning of the incident. Allegedly, the student accidentally hit the teacher with a water pistol, in response, the man kicked the child, and after that he started shooting at the teacher's face intentionally.

"The teacher took him to the locker room, where, according to the boys, he started hitting him on the head and strangling him. The children ran to the noise and tried to separate them," Mizulina wrote.

Her words are confirmed by another video recording: it is clear that the boy fired a water pistol, after which the teacher ran up to him. What exactly happened next is not clearly visible.

"Teachers have already released a petition in defense of the teacher. According to them, this is not the first situation: schoolchildren systematically provoke teachers with hooliganism," Ekaterina Mizulina said.

According to Veronika Shtykina, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Buryatia, the student suffered a fractured wrist during the conflict.

The Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for Buryatia has opened a criminal case on negligence. According to the investigation, the school administration allowed a conflict situation, during which the child was injured.

The prosecutor's office of the Ivolginsky district also conducted an investigation into the incident. "Based on the results of an on—site inspection, the district prosecutor's office submitted a submission on the elimination of violations of the law to the head of the district department of education in connection with inadequate control over the educational process," the Buryatia prosecutor's office said on social media.

How did the local authorities react?

The regional Children's Ombudsman called the incident "absolutely unacceptable."

"School is a safety space for children, and the use of physical force in the educational process is unacceptable under any circumstances. A child in a school must be protected, period," Veronika Shtykina wrote on Telegram. — We are in touch with the parents. We are currently cooperating with law enforcement agencies, and have also initiated a departmental audit at the Ministry of Education and Science in order to objectively understand the situation and assess the actions of all parties to the conflict."

The head of the Ivolginsky district, Nikolai Emonakov, said that the teacher was now suspended from work "until all the circumstances were clarified."

"I want to clearly outline the position of the district administration. Any kind of physical violence in school is unacceptable. The situation has been taken under special control, and all necessary services are involved in the investigation. On Tuesday, October 21, we will hold an unscheduled meeting with the heads of all schools in the district to prevent such incidents," he wrote.

Valery Pozdnyakov, the Minister of Education of Buryatia, also commented on the situation.

"The school has commissions from the district education department and the school itself. A meeting of the mediation service will also be held today with the participation of all parties — it is important to objectively understand the circumstances of what happened," he wrote on social networks.

He assured that the republican Ministry of Education and Science is cooperating with the Commissioner for Children's Rights "to ensure a comprehensive and fair review of the situation with respect for the rights of all participants."

"After all the checks are completed, official conclusions will be drawn and measures will be taken within the framework of the law," said Valery Pozdnyakov. "If a teacher acts within the framework of the law and professional ethics, he can count on full support and protection."

The head of the republic, Alexei Tsydenov, also reacted to the incident — he called the case "egregious."

"The video shows how the student hits the back of the teacher's head, and then strangles him. I want to outline the position. Not only the Commissioner for Children's Rights, but also the Commission on Juvenile Affairs, including parents, will work with the participants in the situation," he wrote on his Telegram channel. — To have rights, you must first fulfill your duties. A student's duty is to respect his teacher."

Alexey Tsydenov in his address called on parents of children to teach minors to respect teachers. And he promised that "the competent authorities will figure out in detail and on a second-by-second basis how it all started, who provoked whom."

"But such situations should not exist in principle. The respect of the student for the teacher is the foundation," said the head of the republic.

The society has split

In the comments under the video, Internet users spoke in a completely polar way: responsibility is placed on the teacher, on the child, on his parents, and on the school leadership.

"Fire the teacher! It's a nightmare! It's a child! Moreover, he broke his arm! A teacher should understand that he is big and healthy, and children are children! Such teachers should be imprisoned for grievous bodily harm," one of the commentators wrote.

"If [the teacher. — Izvestia If a child cannot cope with his ambitions and infantilism, then there is nothing to work at school. I should have called the head teacher or the director! Too bad I found a judge to fight with a child. A disgrace. Fire him for the article!" — another user supports him.

But many people also talk about the promiscuity of modern children.

"What kind of children are they like now, everything is allowed to them everywhere! There are already few good teachers left, because no one wants to teach anymore. Disgusting kids!" the commenter writes.

There are also calls to "send the child to a special boarding school" to "sit and think."

"The real reason is obese parents, and as a result, obese students," is one of the opinions.

Vyacheslav Damdintsurunov, a State Duma deputy from Buryatia, sided with the teacher, saying he could not stand aside "from an egregious case." According to him, what happened at school suggests that "it is necessary to restore order" with the behavior and discipline of children.

— Teachers are our pride, and we are obliged to protect them. On October 19, we held the finals of the army hand-to-hand combat competitions, in which the guys from the Suvorov schools, in particular the Moscow and Tula Suvorov Schools, took part. Remembering their behavior and discipline, of course, I am simply amazed. It's not just that they raise their voices, the guys there can't look askance at their mentors, and that's right," he said.

Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee for Family Protection, noted that the use of physical force is the lot of the weak.

"If a child's weakness is excusable, then a teacher's is not," she added. — The strength of a teacher is in the strength of the mind and intellect. It is sad that the teacher demonstrated their absence. It was in front of other children, it's a verdict for him in terms of reputation.

And parents are responsible for the child, so you need to ask them, Nina Ostanina noted.

— Parents should apologize to the teacher, but the teacher should not work anymore. It is unacceptable for a teacher to demonstrate physical strength instead of mental strength," she stressed.

MP Yana Lantratova called for waiting for the conclusions of law enforcement agencies, but noted that teachers work in difficult conditions and often need protection.

"However, under no circumstances should the situation escalate to a fight," she said. — A professional teacher has a hundred ways to avoid this. By his example, he should show students how to come out of difficult situations with dignity. Physical abuse is unacceptable in a modern school. People who violate this rule have no place in an educational institution.

And DEPUTY Tatiana Butskaya noted that first of all it is necessary to teach children to respect teachers. According to her, no measures to protect teachers will help if children do not have an understanding of how to behave with their elders.

"And they should be taught respect for the teacher at home by their parents, grandparents," she stressed.

What kind of responsibility can there be

The law on education clearly states that students have the right to respect for human dignity, protection from all forms of physical and mental violence, personal insults, and protection of life and health, said lawyer Victoria Danilchenko. Another article of the same law states that teaching staff must comply with legal, moral and ethical standards, and respect the honor and dignity of students.

A teacher may be punished under Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Failure to fulfill the duties of raising a minor"), says Victoria Danilchenko. It provides for imprisonment for up to three years.

"No matter what the teacher's reasons are, he has no right to verbally or even physically punish a child," the expert emphasized.

Lawyer Vitaly Ulianenko agreed that the teacher could face criminal liability for harming the student's health.

According to him, the teacher can be convicted under two articles of the Criminal Code: Article 156 and Article 112 ("Intentional infliction of moderate harm to health"). He also admitted that it was possible to be charged under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with intentionally causing minor harm to health.

— According to art . 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a teacher can be imprisoned for up to two years, 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — up to three years, he added.

Lawyer Andrey Mishonov recalled that in Yekaterinburg in September 2025, a teacher who threw a pen at a student was sentenced to correctional labor for a year and a half.

And Mikhail Avdeenko, deputy chairman of the All-Russian Education Trade Union, noted that back in 2020, the organization developed a bill tightening the responsibility of parents for their children bullying teachers.

— Then the document was not accepted. But this year, at the spring session, the State Duma reviewed it and supported it. Before September 1 of this year, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences came into force. Now fines for parents whose children behave rudely towards teachers range from 500 rubles to 2 thousand rubles. And before that, it was 100-500 rubles," he said.

It is important to teach children to appreciate and respect the teacher, psychologist Natalia Naumova emphasized. And this, according to her, can only be done by parents.

"A child can respect a teacher if he knows how to respect his family, friends, and then himself," she added.

The expert also noted that teachers are now heavily overloaded and it is extremely important for all schools to monitor their psycho-emotional state. Teachers in a borderline psychoemotional state should not be allowed to attend classes with children.