Fired Georgia Teachers and Political Repression over Parliamentary Elections

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

Teachers reported the case of  director of a Public School who continues to insults those whom she considered to have supported opposition parties in the recent parliamentary elections; and if any on them would even dare to stand up to the recriminations, she merely spits on them. And if that is not bad enough, she then questions their state of mental health, requiring them to provide proof from a mental hospital that they are fit to perform their duties in the classroom.

Unless the teachers obey her order, the director does not let them back into the school to conduct lessons. The director has also accused several teachers of stealing various things. Some have been and fired and the excuse given is that there is a downsizing in staff. Out of despair, the affected teachers have submitted complaint to the Georgian Ministry of Education but there has not been any reaction at this time.

The stressed out and abused teachers applied to the Board of Trustees of the school, district education resource center and Municipality Board. Officials from the Resource Center and Municipality Board and the response came unexpected. They were told that such issues are beyond their competence, and as for the school-based board of trustees, teachers claimed that the board members are under the direct influence of the director.

Giorgi Chelidze, teacher of the Public School in the village of Gurjaani, reported that Marina Utiashvili, the director, made the teachers who supported opposition parties to leave the school before and after elections. “I am already seventy years old, and on top of other awards I was awarded the title of an Honorable Teacher of the Republic; I even wear Award of Honor. I have worked with many directors but I have never in my life met such a rude, slanderous and abusive director. Lessons were not completed before the educational process ended and pupils were not able to attend the lessons of those teachers who supported opposition parties.

Students would either come to class at the end of the lesson or left the room as soon as teacher arrived to teach class. Out of fear of reprisals two and more teachers try not to stand together and carry on a discussion, and it is as if director considers that we are plotting behind his back.  Based on the fact that we are not faithful to her and the government, the director reduced the number of hours that we work and even hired others who were either untrained or poorly qualified to teach these hours.  . If we protest she insults and spits us and boosts that she has a high-ranking official as her protector,” said Chelidze.

Tsaro Gafrindashvili, teacher of art, is one of those who was demanded to provide a mental certificate if she wanted to keep her job.

“She [the director] creates unbearable conditions at school and gives us no choice but to leave the workplace. She blames us for stealing things, says that we do not conduct our lessons and we are unprofessional. The director insults us in the presence of pupils and their parents. Several days ago she stated that if we wanted to keep our jobs we had to provide mental health certificates, and if we do not obey her demand, the director will confirm that we are in fact insane,” said Tsaro Gafrindashvili.

The director blamed Tamar Koroghlishvili, former organizer of the school, for having stolen books from the school’s library and fired under the cover of a human resource reduction. “Since I appealed against her decision to fire me and then applied to the lawyers for help, the director became even more aggressive. I was not allowed back into the school to conduct lessons though I was a contracted teacher of Art at school until 1 September 2008. The director demanded me to provide the mental certificate to confirm that I was not crazy. We have never been so insulted in our lives. Besides that, teachers have no access to the information about the school budget and the money is actually spent. I requested the information about the budget three times in written form but nobody responded,” said Koroghlishvili.

The Human Rights Center applied to Marina Utiashvili regarding the situation. She did not want to comment so we requested the public information about the personnel reduction. The deadline provided by Georgian law on issuing public information has already expired and no response has been forthcoming.

Later, the school director spread information with the support of a news agency and blamed the Human Rights Centre for having broken into the school, insulted members of the Board of Trustees and of discrediting the school director. Utiashvili also claimed that we tried to bribe her and reported the same information at the police department; however, law enforcers did not launch criminal investigation because of lack of evidence that a crime had been committed.

The insulted and grieved teachers have since applied to the Ministry of Education for help but nobody has become interested in the allegations about repression and outright abuse. “School director, as an employer, has right to cancel contracts with teachers according to the Georgian law. The Ministry cannot interfere in similar activities,” stated Gia Nodia, the Minister of Education in his reply to the abused teachers. His letter does not mention anything about the necessity of mental certificates that the director demanded from the teachers.

The non-governmental organization Human Rights Centre reported that those teachers who were not considered to have supported the ruling National party were required to provide mental certificates at other public schools in the Kakheti region as well. “Teachers from various public schools in the region either called us on the phone or visited our office for consultations about the current situation. They asked us whether they are obliged to provide such certificates or not. We explain to them that the law does not require them to under undergo mental health examinations. Thus, the threats of school directors claiming they will fire teachers who fail to provide mental certificates before July 10, is groundless. However, it is psychological repression,” explained Lia Khuroshvili, a lawyer for the HRIDC.