Education Ministry launches internal investigation over bullying of public school student in Georgia’s west
"We would like to inform the public that as soon as the fact has become public, all relevant structural units of the Education Ministry, including the Center for Psychosocial Services of the Mandatory Service, were engaged in the case, and psychologists are already working with both children and their parents”, the body stressed. Photo via IPN
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The Georgian Education Ministry on Saturday said its internal audit had started an investigation into the school director’s possible misconduct over the bullying incident towards a public school student in Georgia’s western region of Imereti.
The Ministry’s statement followed the story spread in social media, which said that students of the school had bullied and threatened their schoolmate, “encouraging the minor to self-harm”.
We would like to inform the public that as soon as the fact has become public, all relevant structural units of the Education Ministry, including the Center for Psychosocial Services of the Mandatory Service, were engaged in the case, and psychologists are already working with both children and their parents”, the body stressed.
It also added that the Ministry would be involved in studying all aspects of the incident.
Earlier today, the Interior Ministry also said it had launched an investigation into the matter. As the minor's defender claims, the ninth-grade girl was “systematically abused by her classmates, after which she informed her family about the incident”.
The minor’s side also claimed that the school administration was aware of the fact.
The Georgian Interior Ministry, on May 1, launched an investigation into alleged lewd acts against minors in the country’s western town of Vani, the Ministry announced on Sunday.
The Georgian Patriarchate’s Ninotsminda boarding school in eastern Georgia, which was in the public spotlight between May–June 2021 for allegations of violence against its wards, has been fined 1,000 GEL (322 USD) by the State Inspector’s Office for disclosing children’s personal data.
As part of the Ministry’s efforts to promote safe school environments, specially trained Resource Officers were sent to seven new schools in six regions of the country at the start of the 2015-2016 academic year.