An emergency medical team had to be mobilized on the second day of teachers’ hunger strike in front of the Ministry of Education. The teacher, Maia Ekaladze, developed health complications after taking the strictest measure of peaceful protest with her colleagues and spending the night in front of the ministry. She demands that the ministry admit that the selection process for school principals was unfair and that the positions were allocated selectively.
Yesterday, December 4, after six months of waiting, the teachers finally met with the Minister of Education, Giorgi Amilakhvari. Maia Ekaladze and her colleague Davit Peradze spoke for two hours with the minister and his deputies Tamar Makharashvili and Gela Geladze. According to the teachers, the meeting failed to address any of the teachers’ concerns and the protesters have decided to continue their hunger strike.
The process of appointing public school principals in Georgia consists of 3 stages. In the first stage, the eligible candidates undergo a written examination process. Candidates who score at least the minimum number of points required to pass the threshold, then have to pass the oral examination stage – interviews conducted by the representative committee of the Ministry of Education. The interviews are recorded in official minutes. The successful candidates are later presented to the Board of Trustees of a public school, which selects the most suitable candidate.
Concerns over principal-selection process
The teachers have claimed recently that the process of selecting public school principals is politically motivated and that many qualified candidates are being “blocked” because of their political affiliations. The protestors say they have not been able to hold proper discussions with the Ministry. Prior to yesterday’s meeting, the only time the Ministry representative, Deputy Education Minister, Tamar Makharashvili met with the teachers was on November 22, but according to the teachers, she didn’t answer any of their questions.
After the June announcement of the interview results for principal’ certification, participants who felt unfairly rejected began their protests in front of the Ministry. Around 160 applicants didn’t pass the interview. 26 candidates have challenged the decision in court, asking for the results to be annulled and for the interview process to be repeated. Their interests are being represented in court by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED).
According to ISFED’s October 17 statement, the organization conducted an analysis of the minutes taken during the selection process. The analysis revealed key problems in the process: “In some cases the minutes of the interview were signed by the member of the commission who was not present at the interview of the candidate. The length of the interview and the questions asked indicated the formality of the interview, in most cases the process lasted 10 minutes, which did not allow for a full assessment of the candidates”.
Another prominent human rights watchdog, Transparency International – Georgia points to another problematic habit of the Ministry of Education which presents only one candidate who have passed the oral examination stage to the Board of Trustees of most of the public schools. The organization spoke to several former and aspiring principals who were rejected after the interviews. 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 TI – Georgia has 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. According to TI the evaluations of the State Security Service and the ruling party were decisive in dismissing the principals, “which is an illegal and unacceptable practice”.
The Minister of Education claims that the issues raised by the teachers are part of a disinformation campaign against the Ministry with the aim of “damaging the important reforms we have begun in the education system”. He alleges that in 92% of schools, the board of trustees selected the principal on the basis of fair competition. In only 8% of the schools, the board didn’t appoint anyone.
Notably, during the meeting with the Education Minister on November 4, teachers were promised that in schools, which are still governed by acting principals, the Minister would consider using his discretionary powers and the directly appoint the principles. In addition, the Ministry is considering organizing an additional stage of the competition in these schools.
In his speech, however, the minister questioned why he was being asked to use his discretionary powers. “Why should we use it? The qualified committee has made its decision,” Amilakhvari said after the meeting. He also noted that if the teachers had questions about why their candidature had been rejected, they should seek answers in court.
The teachers have also been directly accused of political motives. According to Davit Peradze and Maya Ekaladze, at the meeting the Minister pointed to the politicization of the protesting teachers and asked if someone was behind them. The teachers find this attitude offensive and say they are ready to discuss their demands publicly in any format and with any audience.
The pernicious and long-standing practice of politically motivated appointments of school principals was once again at the center of protests in October 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.
The issue of teacher salaries
On November 3, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that according to the revised draft-annual budget, the Ministry of Education will receive 160 million GEL to increase the salaries of full-time teachers by about 500 GEL. On November 24, the Minister of Education issued a statement saying that the salary increase would be implemented from July 2024.
Teachers who initially demanded salary increase in January 2024, during the meeting with the Ministry representatives, agreed to the increase in July next year, but the issue of the principal selection process is still on the table.
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- 22/10/2023 – Whither Democratic Schools?
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