"Irrelevant," "neutral," "unfavorable" - what criteria the SSG used to select school principals

School Principals' Participation in Elections in Favor of the Ruling Party - A document made public by non-governmental organizations containing information provided by a former top SSG official, Soso Gogashvili, states that from fall 2020 through August 2021, the Department of Education has not appointed at least 112 public school principals to their terms of office. 

"Of the 112, 95 principals were evaluated according to documents provided by the whistleblower. The Education Resource Centers negatively evaluated 29 fired principals, the ruling party evaluated 80 principals, and the State Security Service evaluated 89. From this data we can conclude that it can be seen that the evaluations of the principals by the SSG and the ruling party were decisive for the release, which, if confirmed, is an illegal and totally unacceptable practice." says the study

According to reports provided to NGOs by Soso Gogashvili, the directors were tested not only on their professional skills but also on their political views, and local resource centers and the SSG evaluated them. The directors were evaluated on 2 criteria - "irrelevancy" and "2018 behavior ."

"Irrelevant" meant testing the director's age, health, political neutrality, nihilism and professional development, and low desire to innovate;

And the "2018 Behavior" category evaluated principals' actions in the run-up to the presidential election.

According to the document, the SSG recommended dismissal if the principal:

• Was politically neutral;
• Did not follow/avoid what was given by the ruling party's
• directives;
• Was affiliated with the opposition party;
• He was "secretly sympathetic" to the opposition party;
• He was a "politically unfavorable" person;
• The teaching staff he led did not participate in the election;
• He had no "electoral resource," and so on.

When the SSG saw fit for a principal stay on their position, it was because of his benevolence toward the ruling party, they wrote that: "He is a supporter of the current government, it is appropriate for them to remain in that position."

Instead, supporters of the opposition party were not recommended to remain as a principal.

For example, the document rated the principal of one of the schools by the SSG as follows:

"Supported the European Georgia Party in the first round of the 2018 presidential election, it is inappropriate to appoint him to the position" or "Avoids following instructions, opposes the ruling team, it is inappropriate to appoint him" to the position.

One recommendation to fire the principal read: "Notably, he and his family supported the United Opposition candidate in the first round of the 2018 presidential election."

Non-governmental organizations note that the facts and documents provided by the whistleblower should be considered as additional evidence in terms of the pressure exerted on the principal of Zugdidi Public School 6, Ia Kerzaia.

Recall that between the first and second rounds of the 2018 presidential election, an unscheduled inspection was conducted at Zugdidi State School 6. Based on the act of the inspection, the school board of trustees recommended the early termination of the powers of school director Ia Kerzaia.

Ia Kerzaia herself connected the inspection to political pressure and said so publicly.
In her commentary, she said she had been privately instructed to campaign in favor of Salome Zurabishvili with school teachers, which she did not do.

Kerzaia considered the unscheduled inspection her punishment. On December 2, Ia Kerzaia was taken to hospital with a diagnosis of stroke, where she died on December 9.

According to the relatives of Ia Kerzaia, she didn't have any health problems before.