Gori kindergartens are getting ready for authorization and IDPs for eviction

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

The kindergartens in Gori municipality have already started preparations for the authorization although it is scheduled in 2020. Gori municipality administration, together with the Kindergartens Management Agency, elaborated the action plan for the authorization. According to the plan, in the first stage, those families shall leave the kindergartens who were settled there after the military operations of 2008.

The kindergartens, where one part of the building is used for the pre-school education program and the second hosts the victim families, will face problems in the process of authorization. 

The fate of the families who are sheltering the kindergartens is still unknown. The Kindergartens Management Agency states the families shall be evicted. Otherwise the kindergartens will not get authorization.

Gori kindergarten # 1 was the biggest recipient of the IDPs and the situation is still bad there because 20 families still live there. They are from the villages of Zardiaantkari, Nikozi and Plavi; they do not have IDP status; reportedly their houses were damaged during the war and it is impossible to live in them.

Big part of the families are not against leaving the kindergartens but they request the government to restore their houses, which were damaged during the war.

Director of the Gori kindergarten # 1 Lali Baiadze told humanrights.ge that the issue shall be resolved without harming either parties.

“The reform of the kindergartens has started and all kindergartens shall meet the requirements of the new draft law. We cannot take the accreditation in similar situation. The authorization will start from 2020 and we have very little time to make our kindergarten meet the requirements. The situation is very complicated. I, as a director, am obliged to request resettlement of the families sheltering in our building but as an individual I support them. They, as they say, have lost everything. I do not know why, but I trust them. I also trust the mayor of our municipality that he will take current situation into account and defend interests of both parties. I, as a director of the kindergarten, will be sorry if our kindergarten will not get authorization, which has the biggest contingent in the city – 9 groups. Please help us peacefully, without harming the feelings of the people and return the kindergarten # 1 to children,” Baiadze said.

Gori municipality mayor Konstantine Tavzarashvili said they will study the situation of all families sheltering the kindergarten and act in accordance to the final conclusions. Konstantine Tavzarashvili said none of the families will stay homeless after eviction.