Police launch investigation after complaint of bullying and extortion in Odesa school

In Odesa, police are checking information about bullying and extortion at Lyceum No. 65 after a video message from the student's mother.

This was reported by the press service of the National Police in Odesa region.

According to law enforcement, while monitoring social media, they found a video message from a woman in which she complains about the systematic harassment of her son and extortion of money in one of Odesa's lyceums.

Law enforcement officials noted that the woman had not filed an official complaint with the police, but while monitoring social media, they found her appeal and registered the relevant information themselves.

In the video, which is circulating online, the woman claims that the incident took place in Lyceum No. 65. The student's mother called on Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets to intervene in the situation.

"My child's life has become unbearable. I don't know how to fight anymore, where to go and what doors to open. I was at the department, and Buynevych (head of the Odesa Department of Education - ed.) was not there. I was received by her deputy. I told her everything about the extortion, the beatings, and the class teacher who was abusing my child. A commission from the department came. There was peace for two weeks, and then the same thing happened again," said the student's mother.

Meanwhile, Odesa region is among the top three in terms of bullying in schools. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 80% of bullying complaints are filed by parents and only 20% by children. This opportunity has already been taken advantage of in 16 regions of the country. The vast majority of reports were filed in Kyiv and the region: 36 reports. Odesa and Lviv regions follow with 9 and 8 reports respectively.

By the way, in a live broadcast from Intent, Intent.Insight spoke with Volodymyr Nemertsalov, founder and project manager of the Veda private lyceum, about bullying in schools.

Earlier, law enforcement officers opened a criminal investigation into child abuse due to bullying of a school student in the village of Shevchenkove in the Kilia community of the Izmail district of Odesa region.

Ірина Глухова