Youth Advocate for access to informal education in rural areas.

“Informal education must develop in [all] regions of Georgia,” said Bidzina Odishelashvili, 16, as he began his speech in the office of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, in front of an audience of representatives from the ministry, different Non-Governmental Organisations and university students.

 Six students from Kakheti public schools presented the need for informal education in rural regions and made strong arguments for its implementation on a national level.

 While all youth agreed on the importance of informal education, they debated how it could be implemented to best solve the problem. Examples of non-formal learning include art (music, dance, and painting classes)and community-based sports programmes. The main the issue being debated was weather children should be required to pay a small amount of money for attending such classes or whether it should be totally financed by local government.  While the details can be worked out, the main concern is that youth in rural regions do not have the chance to develop their skills in different areas, especially children from low socio-economic rural regions. Most have no access to  enrichment activities and also lackstructure at home. Instead of doing something productive, they spend the hours after school home alone or wandering the streets. 

 Several months ago, it would have been unimaginable for these youth to stand in front of a large audience at the Ministry of Sports and Youth affairs, and speak honestly and passionately about the problems they face in their communities; explaining that they do not have the chance to play any sports or take dance or music classes and noting that the only way for talented children to develop their skills is by going to the capital city.The children proclaimed that they deserve the chance to live life in all its fullness, noting that it is the responsibility of local government and community members to strive to provide children the chance to develop their skills. All those present agreed with the youth.

 It was just the first step for Kakheti public school students to advocate for the important issue in their lives.  World Vision staff of Kakheti Area Development Programme helped the children prepare by providing them with “Georgian Institute for Debate and Education” training . Together, 60 youth have been trained in public debates techniques.  The children’s skills stunned their audience.

 “We organise debates to give youth a chance to be heard on local and national levels,” explains Nana Atuashvili, Kakheti ADP Manager.

“Within this programme, we included 10 public school students from [the]Kakheti region. We aim to encourage students, especially in rural areas, to question, to listen to each other and to explore even the most volatile subjects openly, in the spirit of tolerance and cooperation. Talking about issues and trying to figure out how to solve them make youngsters smarter,as reading, writing and researching the issues and their potential solutions are all required,” she added.

 “We try to show people how difficult it is to live in rural places,” said Bidzina Odishelashvili, debate participant.“There are many critical issues and we have chosen one very important one for our generation, the need of informal education. With today’s public debates, we present the problem to the wider audience and will try to advocate for a solution to this problem.”

 The empowerment of youth is fundamental to what World Vision does. Through the organisation’s work with young people in communities, the confidence and civic engagement of youth is increased.  And, by empowering young people,World Vision is striving to make communities stronger and more likely to thrivein the future.

 World Vision also supports the establishment of school-based youth clubs. The organisation first began forming youth clubs in Georgia in 2010. Today, there are 41 youth clubs with over 600 participants, most of whom are between 13 and 17 years old.

 Public debates on different issues will continue in Kakheti region, in addition to informal education another topic of great concern is that of inclusive education.

The representative of the Ministry of Education and Science Nika Sikharulidze, “I am very positively surprised from what I have seen. I am sure this type of projecty will support the creation of civic society. I am sure this project will be implemented, as the Ministry is highly interested in implementation of such initiatives”