Gov’t discusses education law amendments, urban area greening

Amendments to Georgia’s law on higher education, fines for burning of agricultural fields and a new project for creating recreational spaces in urban areas of the country were among topics discussed by the Government in its weekly meeting on Monday.

The Government Administration said the meeting involved a decision of removing the upper age limit of 65 for individuals elected by state bodies in administrative positions in higher education institutions.

Foreign citizens will be granted the opportunity to continue their studies in higher education institutions without passing the unified national examinations if they have received full general education in the country.

Additionally, general and higher educational institutions will be given the opportunity to run programmes for teaching the state language independently, without establishing legal entities for the purpose.

It was emphasised that the mentioned changes are important both in terms of increasing access to training programmes in the state language and decentralisation of educational institutions”, the Administration said.

In other areas, the Cabinet of Ministers reviewed a draft law imposing a “strict fine” for burning of agricultural lands, with individuals set to be fined ₾1,000 ($387.62) and legal entities to pay the penalty of ₾2,000 ($775.24) per hectare of affected area.

The draft law was prepared to address “widespread harmful practice of setting fire to agricultural fields after harvesting”, which the Administration said “causes great damage to the soil and environment” while also posing the risk of fire spreading to nearby “plots, fields, forests and settlements”.

The Cabinet also adopted a draft decree on conditions for selection, planting and care of green plants in municipalities across Georgia, with the exception of self-governing cities, that will facilitate creation of new recreational spaces in urban environments.

A “unified and proper” system of greening of urban areas in municipalities will be another objective for the introduction of the decree.