On June 15, the Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria, met with protesting students, the university administration and the Chancellor of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
Students have been demanding several requests from the university administration for a month now, including the right to take exams remotely and access to student accommodation.
“The main demand and problem is student housing. Today we have two student dormitories in Tbilisi; one is located near the relatively new and well-equipped Lisi Lake; however, the number of free places in it is limited and can not meet the demand for housing. The second is in Bagebi, where the living environment is degrading and life-threatening. “In the 21st century, no one can live there at all, and the university should not offer students to live in similar conditions,” the ombudsman said.
The ombudsman stressed that students were not asking for benefits in the exams. They are asking for benefits based on their social status so that the university study and examination process can adapt to the difficult socio-economic conditions that each of them has. Especially since thousands of students have their status suspended just because they could not pay their tuition.
At the meeting with the University Chancellor, the Public Defender spoke about the importance of dialogue with students, stressed the need to adapt to the student’s policy needs and expressed readiness for mediation between the opposing parties.
“I ask the university administration and the Ministry of Education to take the issues seriously, to take to heart the plight of thousands of students. First, you need to start honest conversations with students. I also think that the university must solve the problem of student dormitories in the long run,” the Public Defender said at the end of the meeting.
The Chancellor of the University said that the administration will definitely continue to meet and negotiate with the students and will work intensively to find ways to solve the problems.
