3rd Chaglar School Shut Down, Parents & Pupils React
The Private Demirel College was officially closed on Tuesday in a decision made by the National Center for Education Equality Enhancement, a trusted source informed GEORGIA TODAY on Tuesday night.
The school's manager, Mustafa Emre Çabuk, has been detained since May 24, with his pre-extradition in a detention facility extended for another three months last week for alleged association with Fethullah Gülen‘s terrorist organization.
The closure of Demirel is seen by some as a continuation of Turkey’s efforts to shut down schools associated with Gülen, a former Islamic Cleric and former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The ‘Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO)’ is considered a terrorist group only by Turkey. There has been a great political focus on Georgian-Turkish schools since the coup against Erdogan’s government last year, especially those schools educating non-Georgian students.
Demirel denies any connection to Gülen or his alleged organization.
“It is vital to speak the language of the country you live in,” Çabuk told GEORGIA TODAY in an exclusive interview last year, “and the schools are making every effort to make sure the Turkish families coming to Georgia have that opportunity".
Of the 320 students studying at Skhivi Lyceum in 2016, a partner school of Private Demirel College, 250 were Georgian and 70 Turkish. The number of non-Georgians has since decreased. Strictly following the rules of the Georgian National Curriculum, Skhivi is said to pay close attention to teaching the Georgian language, increasing it from a regular five hours to nine in the first and second grades and to eight hours in the third and fourth grades.
It has been reported that Demirel College had its authorization revoked due to necessary standards not being met.
“The State Commission, which either grants or refuses authorization, acts according to Georgian legislation,” Gia Murgulia, Authorization Council Deputy at the National Center for Education Equality Enhancement, told Imedi TV on Wednesday. He went on to claim that Authorization Council members are not motivated for any school to be closed down, but that violations had been found in the study process at Demirel, and that "not every pupil was registered in the school".
Bm.ge (buisnesscontact.ge) reports that, according to information they received from the National Center for Education Equality Enhancement, Demirel had "problems with infrastructure, resources and staff, with Turkish teachers employed on programs that needed to be taught in the Georgian language".
"I feel really sad now because of what happened to our school," Gvantsa, an 8th grader at Demirel, told GEORGIA TODAY. "To me, that school was everything. Everything was great until the day they closed it and I don't think they'll do anything to change their stance or that they'll listen to people's opinions on why they shouldn't close it. Every student in Demirel was my close friend. They're all really bright. I still can't believe they had to do this to us".
Gvantsa moved to the Skhivi school, Tbilisi, from the Shahin Lyceum in Batumi, also part of the Chaglar group of schools and which had its license revoked by Georgia’s Ministry of Education early this year after the Turkish Consul in Batumi claimed that the school was “raising terrorists”. She then moved to Demirel.
Other schools under the umbrella of the firm Chaglar Educational Institutions, aside from Demirel, are: Lyceum Skhivi, Marneuli David Agmashenebeli School (at which all 146 pupils are Azerbaijani), Kutaisi Niko Nikoladze School, and the Rustavi Rustaveli School. All are partners of Demirel, owned by it. Chaglar Nikoloz Tsereteli International School of Tbilisi (CIS), also part of the original seven Chaglar Educational Institutions, was closed last year.
The Demirel pupil's parents point out that the closure of Private Demirel College comes late for the 500 pupils who will have to register at new schools before the start of term. Some of the pupils plan to transfer to the partner school Skhivi, however, many of them fear that Skhivi will be next on the "political list" for shut down.
The Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) reports that the head of the Public Relations Department at the Ministry of Education of Georgia, Nata Asatiani, announced that the former Demirel College students and teachers will be transferred to different educational institutions. According to GPB, the College administration admits that there were certain flaws, but they were not given enough time to deal with them and the school authorization was cancelled without warning.
“Demirel College had violations, but at the same time it had very good pupils and very competent teachers," Asatiani told GPB. "We will do our best to make the process of their transferal to other schools as painless as possible. We’re negotiating with several schools which have expressed their readiness to receive pupils and teachers from Demirel College. The results will be made public shortly”.
Parents of Private Demirel College pupils met with Tamar Sanikidze, Head of the National Center for Education Equality Enhancement.
"They have questions and I’ll try to answer them,” Sanikidze told Rustavi 2 prior to the meeting. "The authorization council members have high competence and everything was done according to the educational standards. There was no political influence or intervention regarding the issue," she added.
Gvantsa Lomaia, Lawyer from the Tolerance and Diversity and Institute, says that the scenarios in Shahin School and Demirel College appear similar: both being now closed with their authorization cancelled without notice.
Parents are planning a protest on September 5.
Keep up-to-date with this story on georgiatoday.ge.
Nino Gugunishvili