Parents claim that a teacher punished their child at a kindergarten in Plovdiv, forcing him to mess around in the toilet bowl. After the report, the responsible institutions began an investigation at the “Perunika” kindergarten.
“The incident happened a week ago. When I got home, they mentioned that something had happened at the kindergarten, but they didn't tell me the details. On Thursday morning, we were supposed to take three rolls of toilet paper to the teacher. But the child didn't want to get out of the car. He went into hysterics and kept repeating: ”Toilet paper! Toilet paper!”. We calmed him down and he went into the building. Shortly after, we saw the lady and asked her what was going on,” said the father who filed the report against the teacher.
According to him, she said that his child had been accused of clogging the toilet with paper several times. “Other children who confessed were also accused. But they were not punished. In the case of my child, who did not confess, he was told: “Come and unclog the toilet with your bare hands,” the father said.
He added: “The child went into hysterics. I cannot describe this state. First, I tried to talk to the teacher, who instead of coming to meet the child, came to check if she had locked her car. She refused to tell me why she made the child clean the toilet with her bare hands”.
Ms. Filcheva, who has 22 years of teaching experience and has worked in the kindergarten for 7 years, was asked for a written explanation. “She explained that she did indeed make the child take the paper out of the toilet. This is not the way to punish the child. As a teacher, parent and grandmother, I understand the situation, which is unacceptable, and I do not support what happened in any way”, was categorical the director of the “Perunika” Kindergarten; Krasimira Malinova.
However, other parents supported the teacher. “Ms. Temelkova is a wonderful person and teacher. Our children love her very much. Honestly, the child in question – creates a lot of problems in the group. "None of our children have told us that Viktor messed around in the toilet," said a mother who came to support the teacher.
The Deputy Mayor for Education of the Municipality of Plovdiv, Vladimir Temelkov, stressed that the investigation into the case is still ongoing. "We have written explanations from the teacher and this is indeed what happened. I was surprised by what happened. I do not think that this is the right pedagogical way to raise children, even if they are qualified as problematic," he stressed. He added that the investigation will be completed this week.