TI-Georgia: Political appointment of public school principals is illegal and unacceptable

According to Transparency International-Georgia, the Ministry of Education has begun a process of selecting school principals based on political loyalty and their possible use for electoral purposes.

TI reports that the Ministry presented only one candidate for the post of principal to more than 900 public schools, resulting in a “decidedly uncompetitive environment” and the exclusion of many candidates from the elections, thereby depriving public school boards of a free choice.

TI-Georgia spoke with several former principals and aspiring principals whose candidacies were not submitted to any school. All of them believe that the process is politicized and that the political attitudes of themselves or their family members were decisive in the nomination of candidates.

A 2022 study by Transparency International – Georgia revealed political discrimination against public school principals in Georgia. The ruling party and the State Security Service likely compiled dossiers on them and conducted personnel policies based on this information. From 2020 to 2021, the Ministry of Education and Science did not appoint at least 112 principals as acting principals. The evaluations of the State Security Service and the ruling party were decisive in dismissing the principals, “which is an illegal and unacceptable practice”, – according to TI.

“The current process of nominating candidates for school principals in a non-competitive environment raises legitimate doubts that the government’s alleged goal is to appoint school principals loyal to the ruling party in order to easily use administrative resources for the 2024 parliamentary elections. The nomination of candidates for principals should be based on their competence and qualifications, not on favoritism to the ruling party”- TI states.

The pernicious and long-standing practice of politically motivated appointments of school principals was once again at the center of protests earlier this month at public schools in Chkhorotsku, Kirtskhi and Akhuti in the Samegrelo region, as students and teachers protested against what they saw as the Ministry of Education’s politically motivated nomination of candidates for the posts of school principals in nearly 927 Georgian schools.

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