No. 21 School Principal: According to the expert assessment, the building falls into the fourth category due to the frequency of damage, and it is unsafe for children to be there - a solution will definitely be found within this week

“The educational process is currently suspended. We were even offered the opportunity to participate in finding an alternative building,” Shorena Bunturi, principal of Tbilisi Public School No. 21 (formerly No. 6), said after a meeting of the school’s Board of Trustees.

According to her, representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Municipal Development Fund also attended the meeting. They explained that, given the serious damage described in the Samkharauli forensic expert assessment, it was necessary to suspend the educational process in order to protect the lives and safety of the children.

“The educational process is currently suspended, but it will definitely resume after the few days of suspension. Within this week, a solution will definitely be found that will satisfy the school community.

Our school representatives requested that classes continue in the morning shift and that students not be redistributed. We were promised that work on this would begin actively today. We will all be involved as well. We were even offered the opportunity to participate in finding an alternative building.

According to the Samkharauli assessment, the building has second- to third-degree damage; however, due to the frequency of the damage, it falls into the fourth category. This is a type of damage that makes it unsafe for children to be here. This information became known to both me and the Ministry only yesterday,” the principal said.

Asked by journalists whether the school would be demolished, the principal said that constructing a new school would be more beneficial for the state and more convenient in terms of the timeline.

“They themselves explained that with the funds that would be needed to rehabilitate the building, it would be possible to construct a completely new school building in a much shorter period, according to modern standards — at the same location and under the same cadastral code.

The tender will be announced next week, and given the importance of the school, work will begin as soon as possible,” Bunturi said.

A protest was held outside Public School No. 21 today. The protest was prompted by a notification sent to parents stating that, due to the unsafe condition of the building, the educational process would be suspended from September 18.