School resource officers meet the minister
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Thursday, January 30
School resource officers held rally in front of the Ministry of Education and Science and insisted on an explanation from the minister regarding the possible closure of their service on January 29. However, Minister of Education denied the allegations.
Tamar Sanikidze said people just have no information or someone spread false information. She further added that everything is just a provocation and that she is going to identify the people behind it.
Wednesday’s rally in front of the ministry ended with a meeting with the minister.
Even though the resource officers asked for open debates, the meeting was held behind closed doors.
According to the Ministry of Education, reforms planned in the guard service will be good for schools as reforms. The resource officers will thus depend on school directors. It means that they will be hired and dismissed by them.
The changes in the project came into force from January 1, 2014, but working on the changes started in December 27, 2012. According to the ministry, the changes contain mostly technical issues.
Prior to Minister Sanikidze’s comments, her predecessor Khatia Dekanoidze said the possible abolishment of the resource officers’ institute may be connected with the financial crisis in the country.
“The government is trying to cut-off the projects that to them are less important,” Dekanoidze stated.
Another former Minister of Education and Science, Dimitri Shashkin, thinks that linking the project to the school’s headmasters will ruin its sense.
President Giorgi Margvelashvili, who was also the Minister of Education before Sanikidze also commented on the issue. He said Sanikidze brings new aspiration to this service, so that now instead of control, guards will do a really useful job, defend children and help them sociologically.
