The Council of Europe project “Democracy Starts in Schools”, with the help of the international expert Ted Huddleston and local expert Maia Araviashvili, has started to assess the situation in the sphere of democratic school governance and culture in Georgia. Project conducted focus groups with the school directors and teachers from six regions on July 21-22 and with schoolchildren on July 28. The main goal of the meetings was to identify and analyse existing needs and practices in democratic school governance and education for democratic citizenship. Within the same scope, the experts had meetings with different representatives of education system, namely with the Ministry of Education and Science, the Teacher’s Professional Development Center, Civic Education Teacher’s Forum, Georgian Association of School Administration and others.

The Project “Democracy Starts in Schools – Engaging School Children in Decision Making Processes in Schools and Communities in Georgia” is implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and with the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).