Educational Ombudsman made a statement about the Russian language in schools.

The Ombudsman Nadia Leshchyk recommends that teachers tell students who use the Russian language that they do not understand them and refuse to communicate with them. In addition, Ukrainian teachers should communicate only in Ukrainian during the educational process.

What should teachers do when children speak Russian

The Educational Ombudsman explained that teachers can inform Russian-speaking students that they do not understand them and refuse to communicate with them.

'We had another case where a teacher demanded that a student respond in Ukrainian during the lesson. We received a report about shouting, but when we investigated, there was no shouting. There was an audio recording where the clear request was: 'Please respond in Ukrainian'. And we received a complaint about this teacher. We rejected the complaint and defended the teacher — we said that she was acting correctly in accordance with current legislation.'

When asked how to deal with teachers who speak Russian outside of lessons, Leshchyk replied that the language of the educational process is Ukrainian, and this applies to all forms of communication, including breaks, meetings, seminars, and conferences.

Recently, a Crimean woman reported how schools are panicking about the Ukrainian language. In the temporarily occupied peninsula, there continue to be persecutions and oppression of residents who use Ukrainian or consume relevant content.

There is also currently an active discussion online about a video where a Korean on TikTok shows how he learns Ukrainian with his girlfriend.

The Ukrainian ombudsman recommends that teachers communicate only in Ukrainian in educational institutions and use Ukrainian as the main language in the educational process.