Georgian School of the XXI Century Threats Health of Future Generation

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

“Should not we be grateful to them for having constructed a new school? You could not dream of such a school in your lifetime. It would be excellent…. Now what are you talking about?  I wish school construction would soon end as I intend to go to the seaside with the money they will pay to me for having worked on its construction.  Shut up, stop complaining; we should be satisfied with the  money they pay to us; if we start complaining they will hire other workers,” you can hear such  conversations between the workers who are constructing public schools in the villages of Karaleti and Kvakhvreli in Gori district.  

The only thing that amuses them is that the construction is being completed on time and they will able to be paid for their work. Some of the workers want to get married; others want to go to the seaside; somebody has to buy firewood for the winter…professional workers, like builders, grinders and painters are hurrying because they have other clients, and they are also waiting for them to get started with new projects, and they will supposedly get paid even more than from their current employer. Nobody complains about the quality of the hastily constructed publics schools; parents do not care where their children, grandchildren will attend their lessons starting in September. Nobody cares about the lungs of little pupils who will breathe in the classrooms where the windows will have cheap and poor quality metal-plastic frames.

Short time ago, representative of the Human Rights Center’s Shida Kartli Office attended a seminar that had been organized by the Georgian Health Ministry in Batumi. The seminar took place in the hotel “Inturist” and the new Health Minister was also in attendance.  The seminar was about health care programs.

Later, in the evening, Koba Svintradze, who is the director of the company “Tbilisi M”, visited the hotel; he was running the rehabilitation project of the public schools in Gori District. The “great builder” shouted at the hotel administration because of the slow internet, bad air-conditioning and poor living conditions in his room. The director of the company “Tbilisi M” could not stay at the most expensive hotel in Batumi more than one day.

On that day we got curious to find out what kind of schools the director of the private company was building in Gori district and we estimated that the public schools he has built are not comfortable enough for the future generation who will have to spend 11 or 12 years in the building. Those schools do not comply not only with international but with ordinary standards as well. It was very difficult to gather information about the situation. Workers avoid official comments but they just complained about their low wages.

“We appreciate that schools are repaired in the village. But it does not mean that we should not pay attention to illicit activities. First of all, workers work without any employment agreements. Initially we agreed that grinder had to receive 6-7 GEL for per sq. meter but in fact they received only 5 GEL. As for ordinary workers; they had to take 15 GEL a day but finally they received only 10 GEL; they were only laughing at us,” said one of the workers.

Suddenly, another worker jumped into our conversation.

-Keep silence, my brother, as you might lose your job.

-They will not do any harm to me. If we join each other they will not fire everybody. Let them bring workers from Tbilisi and they will then see how much it will cost? The workers waiting for the employers at the Shop # 7 in Gori do not accept the offer unless the employer pays at least 30 GEL. Nevertheless, we agreed to work for 15 GEL and now they are not going to pay us that amount either,” complained the bravest worker. However, when he noticed that nobody supported his complaining turned to me and asked not to mention his name in the article.

We were also told that one of the pupils also worked at the construction who worked as hard as other workers. However, experienced workers received 200 GEL a month but the boy was paid only 130 GEL.

Director of the “Tbilisi M” Ltd learned that the Human Rights Center’s Shida Kartli Office became interested in the problems related to the school construction project. He arrived at the place immediately and asked workers what they were complaining about. The workers replied they did not have any problems and the director asked them not to say anything to journalists and that he would pay the total sum as it was stipulated in the initial agreement. He also promised to reimburse the money that he cut off during previous months. The workers are now happy with their achievement and they are sure that the director will keep his promise.

As for the construction materials of the school the director of the building company gave in at one point- the floor of the school will not covered with laminated parquet flooring

Temur Aphkhazashvili, member of the Kvakhvreli village council, discussed the problem with the Gori Municipality Board. Givi Khuroshvili, the head of Economical Service Department within the Municipality Board replied they could not cover the floor with the parquet that costs 100 GEL per sq. meter.

The Human Rights Center interviewed Givi Khuroshvili.

-Mr. Givi, what kind of information do you have about the construction of the Kvakhvreli Public School?

- What kind of information should I have?

- For example, you should know that the building of the school started without a corresponding plan for its construction.

- The plan will be ready within a week.

- Why will it be so late?

- I do not know; we have calculated the expenses just now; they will send it to the corresponding agencies and the project will be confirmed within a week.

Vladimer Vardzelashvili, the Shida Kartli Regional Governor, stated that these schools will be best ones in the district. However, because of the limited budget Gori Municipality Board has to refuse to use parquet on the floor in the schools. Instead, they will use ordinary wooden flooring material. 

The school construction is getting through but the plan is not ready yet. We asked why the private company was paid such a large sum when it did not have any construction plan, Givi Khuroashvili sighed in reply.

Vardzelashvili hopes that these two public schools will be most unique ones in the district and this in spite that these buildings already face several problems.

Kvakhvreli Public School was built in 1939 and it now has more than 300 pupils in attendance.