Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

This is the moment a mother surprises her glum son with a birthday cake in class, clearly lifting the young lad’s spirits, but now the Turkish teacher has been dismissed for sharing the heartwarming clip on Instagram, where it went viral with 14 million views.

The teacher, who uses the name ‘Dilara Ogretmen’ (‘Teacher Dilara’) on Instagram, filmed the class birthday scene and shared it on social media, where it went viral with nearly 14 million views.

Dilara shared the clip with the message: “I cannot describe the feelings this video made me feel. That look of gratitude in his eyes, that moment when he kisses his mother’s hand out of respect, the radiance of joy around him… I have witnessed many moments. But as I watch it, it is the only video that makes me cry and makes me feel sad and happy at the same time.”

In the video, filmed in a nursery school in the Turkish province of Istanbul, the birthday boy, named Ibrahim, is seen sitting glumly at his desk.

His mother walks in with a birthday cake and the boy’s spirits lift and he lovingly gazes up at her and kisses her hand as his classmates applaud.

While the video gave a lot of joy to netizens on social media, the teacher announced that she had been sacked by the school on 3rd February.

Dilara, who now has 34,000 followers on Instagram, said: “The video was shared with the consent of Ibrahim’s parents on 9th January. Before I shared the video, I had only 1,000 followers. I wanted to use this place as an archive in the coming years. I did not expect that the video would make such an impact, that it would sit on the country’s agenda for weeks. No one would have guessed that.

“The video went out of my control. I told this to my superiors at school. They told me to delete the video immediately. I didn’t delete it, and I told them that I would not delete it because there is nothing wrong with the video.”

Dilara added: “They called me yesterday from the school and told me I was dismissed. The odd thing is that I was already dismissed on 31st January, according to official papers, without my knowledge.

“I brought light to the feelings we have forgotten with this video. I did not use my profession to abuse the children. I did not use bad words to them or impose violence. I did my job properly.”

The school has yet to release a statement on the matter and it is unclear whether Dilara is planning to take legal action.