Regarding this issue, the party members, Nino Goguadze and Gedevan Popkhadze held a press-conference in a party office. They stated that an order issued on 4 October, 2010 by the Minister of Education and Science removed article 10 (2, 5, 6, 7 and 8) from an order “On Approving the Obligatory Terms of Labour Agreements between Public School Director and Teacher”.
According to them, the abovementioned article obliged school directors to follow certain dismissal procedures. As party members indicated, these procedures represented a guarantee that terminating labour agreement would be well-grounded and there were fewer chances for unfair termination of employment contract.
“Georgian teachers shall retain their fundamental function – bringing up new generation, which is impossible to achieve when a teacher is oppressed and scared” – they added. Free Democrats also blamed the government for putting pressure on ESFTUG, as based on the information provided, the Ministry non-formally orders school directors to stop paying ESFTUG membership dues.
Free Democrats also stated that the Ministry fails in protecting teachers’ rights and tries to dismantle their professionl union. Preventing teachers’ unity may signify that the Ministry is planning to act against teachers’ interests again.
“In order to avoid abovementioned danger, we should pay more attention to protection of teachers’ rights and fight to achieve fair and decent labour system”.