New Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Aleksandre Jejelava met with the representatives of student movement Auditorium 115 at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on June 7. The Minister said after the meeting that he shares the stance that “the university should develop, keep in step with the times and it is impossible to work using yesterday’s methods today. Unfortunately, it happened so that settlement of some issues has been delayed. So, students want these issues to be settled as soon as possible. These issues are related to fundamental educational reform, self-governance system. I want to emphasize that they do not demand abolition of self-governance. They simply demand that the current form and system be replaced by progressive, democratic, transparent and equality-based system. Students cannot demand to abolish the system, which enables them to take part in management of an educational institution.”
Irakli Kupradze, member of Auditorium 115, said after the meeting with the Education Minister that students put forth their own demands and spoke about how they imagine educational reform in the country. “We assured him that there is a consensus on making amendments to the Law on Higher Education. We warned the Minister that reciprocal steps need to be taken; otherwise, we will launch more radical struggle at the beginning of a new academic year, which coincides with the pre-election period and nobody needs destabilization in this country. We need comprehensive reform of educational system and we hope that the government and the new minister will be brave enough to take these steps,” Irakli Kupradze said and noted that Auditorium 115 will wait until Thursday, June 9 for the Minister’s response about when he will submit amendments to the Law on Higher Education to the government’s session so that the Parliament manages to approve these amendments during its spring session.
Bakhva Kvirikashvili, acting president of TSU Student Self-Governance, also expressed readiness to meet with the new Education Minister. “I believe that there are people with a healthy mind in Auditorium 115 and the entire university community, who can talk in a constructive atmosphere. We should achieve the results through a dialogue instead of using the language of ultimatums; it will be better for the university’s development. The university should use its internal regulations to decide what kind of student representation it needs – student self-governance, student club or something else.”
