146 kids may not registered in the Gori kindergartens

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

The kindergartens resumed working in Gori but they cannot accept 146 kids because the groups are already filled in all kindergartens. The head of the union of kindergartens in Gori municipality Liana Kovziashvili said they received many applications this year and 146 children are on the waiting list. 

“We have 18 kindergartens in the city; 41 kindergartens are working in the villages of the municipality; now we are planning to open three more kindergartens. Over 2 000 applications were submitted to the kindergartens; the ones in the villages accepted all applicant kids but there are several kindergartens in the city which received many applications and 146 children are left on the waiting list. We will give preference to the socially vulnerable families,” Kovziashvili said.

The head of the union of kindergartens believes there is only one solution to the situation: “If a child misses kindergarten 5 days without producing respective medical notification on illness, the child will be dismissed from the kindergarten and the next child from the waiting list will be enrolled to the kindergarten.”

Representatives of the opposition parties state free kindergartens are serious burden for the local budget. Member of the Gori municipality assembly from the United National Movement Irma Ambardnishvili believes the pre-school educational institutions shall return back to the voucher system and kindergartens should be free only for socially vulnerable families. 

“Considering the budget, we will not be able to construct enough kindergartens for all kids. We need to change our approach. We must restore voucher system and make kindergartens paid for wealthy families; the state budget shall continue subsiding private kindergartens too,” Irma Ambardnishvili said.

Head of the education unit of the Gori Municipality Administration Nino Berianidze said in accordance to the law on local self-governance the kindergartens are free and the Gori City Administration cannot restore voucher program unless the law is changed. 

According to the union of kindergartens, the increased number of applicants is caused by the fact that parents registered in the municipality villages decided to enroll their kids in the city based kindergartens.