Recommendation to the Administration of the Municipality of Akhmeta
On June 21, 2014, Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Administration of the Municipality of Akhmeta with the recommendation to carry out legal and financial measures for protecting the rights of children at kindergartens of the villages Kistauri, Matari and Ojio of Akhmeta Municipality.
No secure physical environment is provided in the above kindergartens, sanitary-hygienic conditions and nutrition standards are not properly complied with , no access to the right to early and pre-school education is guaranteed, proper training - educational equipment are lacking.
The buildings of kindergartens are not adapted to the needs of children with disabilities/children with special needs, yards andplaygroundsare not safe there are no permanent water supply, ventilation, and central heating system and water tanks. The wood-burning stoves located in the rooms of children are not closed hermetically and bounded.
Kindergartens of Ojio and Matani are short in bathrooms and toilets, laundry rooms and nurse offices.
The procedures for protection of children from violence are not followed in the above preschool educational institutions.
National legislation and international legal standards impose an obligation on the State on the one hand to ensure effective functioning of the educational institutions in the country, promoting safe and adequate physical environment for children, realizing the right of access to quality education within the limits of positive obligations and on the other hand not to make unlawful and arbitrary interference in the protected field in the limits of negative obligation.
Public Defender requested the Administration of the Municipality of Akhmeta to allocate additional financial resources for introducing a program of inclusive education, to carry out financial and legal measures for improvement of safe and adequate physical environment, sanitary-hygienic conditions at the kindergarten N1 of the villages Kistauri, kindergarten N1 of the village Matani and Ojio kindergarten.