Russia"s top ombudsman for children"s rights...

School, a 60-part fictional series showing the harsh reality of Russian schools, was launched on national Channel One on Monday, but already sparked heated public debate. Some people and politicians demanded its creators be reprimanded.

School was shot by young director Valeria Gai Germanika, who also directed Everybody Dies Except Me, another teenage oriented film, which received several international awards, including two prizes at the Cannes International Film Festival 2008.

"Fears that teenagers will start imitating the characters in the series are a naive vision of the television drama I believe," Pavel Astakhov, a lawyer and presidential ombudsman on children"s rights, said.

"The main problem of teenagers today is their inability to take a look at themselves from the outside. And by showing the series, Channel One is teaching them to assess their behavior from the outside. This is a great thing."

The producers described School, showing schoolchildren

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