Ombudsman finds no evidence of child abuse in Odesa kindergarten

The monitoring group of the office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Odesa region (Ombudsman) inspected a kindergarten in Odesa, which was reported to be abusing children.

According to the press service of the office, during communication with the children who allegedly became victims of the teacher, it was found that the children are active, cheerful and willing to make contact.

"They did not show any signs of fear or information that someone was hurting them. It was also found that the institution is cleaned regularly, has good repairs, medicines meet the standards, as well as fire safety. There is a shelter with a ventilation system, and there are necessary medicines and food. However, there are also violations in the form of the lack of a sufficient number of employees for the normal functioning of the institution, namely: there is no medical worker, which makes it impossible to properly maintain medical records and provide medical care; the institution does not have a license to conduct economic activity in medical practice. There are no educators in sufficient numbers, which complicates the work of the institution," the representative office said.

On October 27, Olena Buynevych, Director of the Department of Education and Science of the Odesa City Council , reported that a kindergarten teacher in Odesa had been fired and her colleague-mentor suspended for the duration of an official inspection because of child abuse. According to her, the children were forced to hold their hands up and squat when they disobeyed. She was also informed that children were pushed and forced to clean toilets, but the information about cleaning was not confirmed.

It should be noted that in the first four months of 2025, 130 cases of bullying were recorded in Ukraine, which is 50% more than in the same period last year.

Кирило Бойко