Two sixth-graders' fight after school sparks war between their mothers

A children«s fight at one of Novosibirsk»s supplementary education centers ended with a conflict between two mothers involving teachers and police. The versions told by both girls, and subsequently by both mothers, differ so much that it seems like two different situations. An NGS journalist listened to both and found out the educational institution«s opinion.

»Ethnic Slurs Were Used«

Ekaterina Kim did not find out immediately about her 12-year-old daughter Yulia»s conflict with girls from the supplementary education group. According to the woman, on the eve of the next class on Monday, 24 November, the girl approached her and admitted she was afraid to go: last Wednesday, she was insulted and then beaten by two classmates.

«Yulia told me that after classes, two girls, Sasha (the girl»s name has been changed. — Ed.) and her friend, waited until the teacher left the classroom and started calling her names and insulting her. And they didn«t call her stupid or something else, as children swear, but on ethnic grounds: »Chinese wannabe«, »a parody of a Chinese girl«,» Ekaterina recounted the conflict from her daughter«s words. »Yulia left the class, went to the toilet, and these girls followed her. They tried to peep on her, started insulting her. When Yulia came out, they were waiting for her. My daughter tried to defend herself, but Sasha, who is taller and bigger than Yulia, grabbed her, pressed her against the wall, and hit her on the head. And Sasha«s friend stood nearby and laughed.»

Then the woman got worried: she remembered that last week her child complained of nausea, and what she initially took for an intestinal infection might be the consequences of a concussion.

On Friday, 28 November, Ekaterina took Yulia to the hospital, and the girl was hospitalized with suspected concussion. On Monday, according to the woman, doctors confirmed this diagnosis, but the hospital should issue official documents only after the child«s discharge.

After this, Ekaterina Kim decided to draw the attention of the teachers and the mother of the girl she considers the aggressor to the situation, so that it wouldn«t happen again. But she almost immediately understood: this conflict wouldn»t be limited to just a children«s fight.

»The next day I came to [the educational institution], reported the incident. It turned out that this Sasha«s mother — Svetlana M., is a very difficult woman. I was ready to meet her, discuss everything civilly, but when Svetlana came, she made a huge scene and wrote a counter-statement [to the head of the institution], insulted the director. I received from her a piece of paper with nonsense, claiming that it was allegedly my daughter who attacked her child.»

After this, Ekaterina went to the police and wrote a statement (a copy of her explanation is available to the editorial office) that Yulia was beaten. She perfectly understands that the teenage girl won«t face any serious punishment, but she already views the situation as a conflict between two adults.

»Svetlana threatened with her connections, promised to sue. I can«t just brush this under the carpet — my child is lying in the hospital,» Ekaterina stated.

«This Is All at the Teacher»s Instigation«

The mother of the second participant in the children»s conflict, Novosibirsk entrepreneur Svetlana M., considers her daughter the victim in the children«s fight and in the overall situation that developed during the classes. In general, Svetlana»s version is a mirror image of Ekaterina«s words. The only thing that matches in their stories is the fact of the fight and that both mothers found out about it only several days later.

»All the girls were in friendly relations, what happened that day, I don«t know. According to my daughter, Sasha and her friend went to the toilet, and this girl for some reason wanted to go with them. Inside, she started filming how they were pulling up their tights, and then said she would post the video. They told her that you can»t post such things, and the girl started fighting,« Svetlana M. said. »She tore Sasha«s clothes, hit her on the head several times. We have a witness — Sasha»s friend: no one touched Ekaterina«s daughter. She is small in height, and our girls are tall, they won»t bully little ones.«

Insults on ethnic grounds, according to her, also occurred, but it wasn»t Sasha and her friend picking on Yulia«s Asian appearance, but the opposite: Ekaterina»s daughter allegedly shouted offensive words at her opponents.

«She called them stupid Russians. And the girls, on the contrary, admire Chinese, Koreans — it»s such a trendy thing for teenagers. They basically don«t have such words in their vocabulary,» the woman stated.

Svetlana, like Ekaterina, couldn«t confirm her version with any documents besides photos of written statements. She mentioned that she filmed the torn clothes on video, but refused to provide it since the same video shows her daughter»s face.

According to Svetlana M., the consequences of the conflict are blown out of proportion, and all these last days Yulia regularly attended supplementary classes, and wasn«t being treated at all. To the twice-asked question whether she was at the classes on Monday, 1 December (according to Ekaterina, on this day the girl was already in the hospital), Svetlana didn»t answer. At the same time, she insists that an ordinary, insignificant quarrel is being blown up by teachers, whom Svetlana managed to catch having a wrong attitude towards her daughter.

«A new teacher came, who insulted and humiliated children, demanding some discipline. If before they could calmly walk around the classroom, exchanging information about work with each other and with the teacher, [now it»s not allowed]. That is, she threatened them, wrote the first report, the second report like: «you»ll be expelled, I«ll kick you out of these courses.» I called and asked to resolve the situation verbally: we«re all going crazy this fall,» the woman described the background of the conflict. «At first everything was resolved, the teacher became kind, and a week or two after the start of the quarter, the head of this children»s institution called me and said: «Come, we»ll sort out your child«s behavior.»«

Further events Svetlana M. described as an attempt by the head of the children»s courses to pressure her, standing up for the young teacher who demanded discipline from Sasha and other children.

«I wrote a statement, a complaint against the teacher, a complaint against this child [Yulia], because, well, it»s not nice to behave like that,« Svetlana M. summarized.

Teachers» Version

NGS also sought a comment from the supplementary education center where Yulia and Sasha study, to find out the teachers« position. NGS does not mention its name in accordance with legal requirements. The teachers stated that they are just looking into the situation, but declined to comment.

»The administration of the educational institution became aware of an incident between classmates, during which one of the conflict participants hit the other,« the supplementary education center said. »The conflict occurred outside class time, beyond the classroom. The parents, legal representatives of all conflict participants, have been notified of what happened, and the educational institution is assisting in resolving this conflict.«

Children»s conflicts in Novosibirsk turn into large-scale confrontations between parents and teachers far from the first time. In spring 2025, two sixth-graders frightened parents with photos of cuts on their wrists — investigators from the Investigative Committee had to look into the history.