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The article has been published by internetportal “ProgressNews” on December 26, 2019

Following the tragedy of Luka Siradze, the government has spoken out about creating new regulations for private schools and refining the Juvenile Justice Code. “We think that private schools should be subject to the same type of requirements as public schools. Just because an educational institution is private, it should not mean that it is a separate and isolated world and should not be subject to even strict regulations. " – Said the minister of justice Tea Tsulukiani. How has Saakashvili's government bestowed the state property to the business, how competitive is a private school, and why does a private school teacher have less pay than the public sector employee? Maia Kobakhidze, President of the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia, spoke to ProgressNews about the developments and planned changes in private schools:

-Let me start with the fact that educators’ union protects the rights of teachers and represents their interests at various levels of government, but the core of our members and therefore of our organization is the student and the next generation of the country. Of course, the school has a great effect on the formation of the citizens. School and Family - These two institutions should support and nurture student upbringing and education. As for the tragedy of a 15-year-old teenager, I think it is unacceptable to place the blame entirely on the school, but the school has great tools to support the proper development of its students. Unfortunately, educational work in schools is weakening, and much needs to be done to strengthen it. Given that students spend almost half of their time at school, it is imperative that the school take care of the proper development of their psyche. The Green School probably did not work in this direction, so they resorted to transferring the student to law enforcers. In the process of investigation, I cannot say more about this great tragedy.

- It is no secret today that most of the private schools, including the Green School under the patronage of the United National Movement, were opened on the basis of optimized-liquidated public schools under very questionable circumstances. We all remember the fast-moving pace of liquidating school buildings, selling them very cheaply and then opening expensive private schools in these buildings. Who stands behind these schools is no secret either…

-Of course, closing processes were artificially created to take over public schools, and these processes were particularly active in 2010, 2011-2012. The target was the school and everything was being done to get its building in the hands of any subject. We have gone through very bad and difficult processes, and the crisis in preschool institutions is the result of this disorder. You probably remember that many kindergartens were sold along with schools, and new ones were not built in such quantity to meet the demand of the population. That is why there are more than 30 children in each group of kindergartens or in each of the public school classes, which negatively affects both the quality of education and the health of the child. Our trade union and the international trade union movement have a critical attitude towards private schools and kindergartens, as we believe that every child should have the opportunity to receive general education regardless of his or her social status, as defined by the Constitution of Georgia. Yes, we are against increasing the number of private schools, though we have neither the right nor the desire to ban them altogether. We do not forbid anyone to buy, build, but no one should touch the public school. We are against buying public schools and creating business and luxury on their expanse. Unfair, law-abducted public spaces and disguised purchases are categorically unacceptable to us.

 

_Do you think the state should fund private schools with tuition fees of 5 000, 10 000, 15 000 GEL and more?

_As far as private school funding is concerned, I have often heard some experts suggest that the state should not fund private schools, as this would mean interfering with the private sector and strengthening the control over business. I don’t agree with this. The state finances the education of its students regardless of where they study, therefore, funding is not granted depending on whether the student attends public school or in private. Perhaps the question should be asked differently - how the private school uses voucher funding and how much it spends to improve the quality of teaching. Parents should also be aware of where state's voucher funding and tuition fees paid by them are spent, and what services the private school offers to improve the quality of teaching and learning. As far as I know, these topics have not been fully elaborated and there are cases when the quality of private school education is not very different from that of public school education. The difference might only be in the infrastructures. I believe that during authorization these issues should be properly refined and processed so that the business does not suffer.

_What should be done for that?

_ A certain standard should be set by the state and above this standard the business should have complete freedom of development. The starting point of this thesis is that private schooling is no ordinary business. It is not an ordinary private enterprise that makes products. We are dealing with the next generation of the country, which is largely the responsibility of the state, so financing private schools, the state should have the right to set lower limits of the standards and have control mechanisms over them. As I mentioned above, however, a private school should have complete freedom above this standard and be independent in order to improve the quality of teaching.

-As a teacher's rights advocate, how do you explain that often an expensive private school teacher has a lower salary than a public school teacher?

-Yes, it is no secret that in some private schools, teachers' working and socio-economic conditions are much worse than those in public schools. Although Georgian legislation, the Labor Code stipulates labor relations between employer and employee, for public and private schools this is not the same. In many cases, the organic law of Georgia, the requirements of the Labor Code are violated in private schools and the requirements of the Labor Code are not reflected in labor contracts. The case has gone so far, that teachers in private schools are not paid for summer vacations and sick leaves. Naturally, the question arises – where do the tuition paid by parents and state voucher funding go? Because of such questions, authorization must be made, and requirements for private schools must be tightened. Mechanisms for the protection of teachers' labor, socio-economic legal rights should be developed and standards set in accordance with the situation in public schools and applicable legislation.

I would like to remind you, that there is a norm in the order of the Minister of Education regarding the disciplinary procedure for teachers, according to which this order is voluntary for private schools. We, the trade union, have demanded that it be made compulsory for the private school as well, and this normative act is enforceable, since it restricts the principal from imposing disciplinary punishment on the teacher. This order also gives the trade union the opportunity to protect teacher rights and to avoid pressure, persecution, and unfair disciplinary action by some principals.

  • Are you unable to do this nowadays?

-In the private schools that are our members, there are no such problems and these issues are resolved, but in private schools that are not guided by such a normative act, naturally, they single-handedly decide to impose a disciplinary penalty on the teacher. As an example, the order on mandatory terms of a contract of employment with a teacher governs the terms of the teacher's paid leave which must be at least 40 working days. There is also an order by the Minister of Health on the temporary disability rule, and all agencies in the country are guided by this order. We, the NGO Trade Union, also issue the doctor’s note in accordance with such legislation. It turns out that private schools that fail to comply with such statutory requirements violate the law. Yes, it is a violation of the Labor Code when a teacher is contracted for one year, from September to July, in order to avoid a paid summer vacation. Also, in our country there is a concept of a safe school that applies to both private and public schools. This concept imposes many obligations on the private school, but in many private schools there is only one guard. When it comes to the quality of teaching and learning, there are a lot of problems here too, as some schools have been involved in teacher professional development schemes and some have refrained.

-Why?

-Because, according to this order, senior, leading and mentor teachers have pretty attractive status supplements, and it seems that the private schools do not want to issue these supplements. Of course, this does not apply to all private schools, but in general, both the private school and the public school should be included in the legislative framework. I repeat, this is not the case when a private enterprise produces a teacup and it will be either of poor or high quality. We are dealing with a student here, and all the requirements of the law must be fully implemented in the general education system, including the private and public schools.

-I am sure that many private schools will consider this as interfering with private business.

-When they have such protest and ambition that no one should interfere in their business, they should work in good faith. Purchase a space or lease a building, but the state-owned student voucher should not be spent on the building and utility bills.


-Are there any such cases?

-Yes, unfortunately, this happens often. Instead of using the state voucher for child upbringing and education, it is used for the various costs of the building maintenance, and we naturally oppose to it. In general, the education system should not be privatized. The education system should be state-owned, and every child should be able to receive quality education equally. Equal provision for quality education - this is a key demand of trade unions.

 

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