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Teacher Forced To Quit Wins Job Back After Viral Selfie Protest

Teacher Forced To Quit Wins Job Back After Viral Selfie Protest

Teachers shared photos of themselves in swimwear or underwear on social media, using the #TeachersAreHumansToo hashtag

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

The power of social media sure is strong these days. While sometimes that can be slightly dangerous - an online lynch mob ready to verbally shoot you down at a moment's notice - at other times it can be pretty beautiful.

Thankfully, one teacher has had an experience involving the latter, having managed to finally win her job back with the help of viral support.

History teacher Viktoria Popova - of the Siberian city of Omsk in southern Russia's Omsk Oblast region - was forced to quit her job after photos of her in a swimming costume appeared on social media.

The 26-year-old had posed in a blue polka dot swimming costume in photos that she said were 'just for me', but sparked the attention of education officials after they were shared on the Instagram page of the plus-size modelling agency where she had undergone a training course.

Parents and school administrators spotted the photos, telling Viktoria that she had broken her role's code of conduct before giving her the choice between resigning and being fired.

But teachers - female and male - began to jump to her defence, launching a nationwide social media campaign that involved people sharing photos of themselves in their swimming costumes or underwear.

CEN
CEN

Viktoria explained that she'd only enrolled on the modelling course for a bit of fun, and was devasted to lose her job as a result of it.

She said: "These photos were just for me... I do not work as a model, I just went on a training course.

"I wasn't posing in underwear or stockings... I wasn't promoting some men's saloon. People do take pictures nowadays. They pose for photos on holidays and post pictures online."

CEN

Teachers then started to share photos of themselves in bikinis, swimming trunks or underwear on social media, using the #TeachersAreHumansToo hashtag in protest.

The protest photos started appearing on the 'Education Ombudsman' community on Russia's Vkontakte social network.

CEN

"Big secret: teachers are humans, too. They also relax, sunbathe, go to nightclubs, drink, eat chips, fall in love, make children," one female teacher wrote.

"Teachers are unjustly picked on for their personal, private life to which they are entitled like everyone else," another added.

The Omsk regional administration has now held a meeting between Viktoria and the school's administration, where she was reportedly offered the chance to continue teaching 'either in the same or a different school'.

All's well that ends well, eh?

Featured Image Credit: CEN

Topics: Viral, World News, News, Interesting, Community, Russia