March 2009

Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management

Page 10

Campaign against pre recorded

music launched

New Bus Fare System Debuts While standing at the bus stop in Di-

gomi near the square Texel, waiting

for the bus # 51, Guram Nebieridze,

82, has only a 1 lari paper note in his

pocket.

He has not heard yet that there is a new system of paying in the buses, and that he needs to have exact change for his ride. He also does not know that if he doesn’t buy a ticket, he could get fi ned.

After March, any passenger who does not pay for a bus ticket can be fi ned 15 lari by bus monitors who will be checking passengers.

Th e Municipal Transport Depart-ment of Tbilisi City Hall is in charge of instituting a major reform, which will involve using new automatic fare machines in all of the city’s 742 buses. Th ey have already been installed in all buses. But the new fi ne system is not in eff ect yet; it will start at the end of March.

Akaki Jokhadze, head of the Mu-nicipal Transport Department, said the new system will be easy, conve-nient and he predicts it will improve city transport service.

“Th e new project is organized to make people pay, and to make drivers

of the buses drive at normal speed and to arrive at bus stops according to the schedule,” he said.

A Tbilisi bus ticket costs 40 tetri. Students pay 20 tetri, citizens on gov-ernment aid pay 10 tetri, and there are free tickets for school children, war veterans and the disabled.

Th e ticket prices have not changed.Th e new method works this way:

when riders get on the bus, they either drop small change in the fare machine or touch it with a special card (cards cost 2 lari, which passengers buy and add lari to pay their bus fares). Th ey take their ticket and hold on to it un-til they get off the bus. After March, bus monitors will patrol the buses and impose a 15 lari fi ne on any passenger who travels without a ticket.

If the fi ne is not paid within a month, it will increase to 50 lari.

Bus monitors have been hired and trained by city government to ride the buses, making sure that each rider de-posits a fare. Th ey walk from one bus stop to another and will appear in the buses from time to time. Some moni-tors begin to work at 7 a.m., and in the middle of the day they are shifted to other buses. Jokhadze declined to say how many monitors have been hired.

INSIDE

Page 5

Houses destroyed in

Africa Suburb

Page 12

Old garbage bunkers are being

replaced by new containers

Page 4

Gudauri resort attracts

fewer visitors

Marinka GARIBASHVILI

Continued on page 3

photo by Alana Gagloeva

Ivane, 14, lies with a high tempera-

ture in a small, dark room without

heat on a winter evening. He tries

not to look at the darkened tele-

vision set or at his disappointed

grandmother.

How could a TV be blamed for something? And yet this family’s tele-vision set is guilty.

A TV set and school books for Ana, 12, and Ivane, 14, were the reason that Tamar Japaridze and her two orphaned grandchildren lost their monthly So-cial Assistance payment from Georgia. (Th e names of the family have been changed to protect their privacy.)

Since 2005, more than 350,000 families judged to be below the pov-erty line have been eligible to receive Social Assistance from the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Defense. Th e Ministry’s Social Subsidy Agency evaluated families, giving them points according to four main factors: health, education, employment and evalua-tion of their living conditions.

Families judged eligible to receive

assistance were given 30 lari for the head of the family per month, plus 12 lari for each member. Th ese families were also given vouchers for gas and electricity, a discount for local trans-portation and health insurance. But in 2008, the families were reevaluated.

Th e grandmother fi led a complaint with the Public Defender’s Offi ce. Ana Chubinidze, senior specialist in the law and socio-economic division of the Public Defender’s Offi ce, said she received 37 protests in 2008 from families denied social assistance for similar reasons.

After the Public Defender recom-mended that Social Assistance for these families be restored, 19 families were placed back on the assistance rolls, but the rest of the protests were rejected.

In 2008, the Social Subsidy Agency had spent 97 million lari ($60.6 mil-lion) to aid families below the poverty line. Th e budget of the Social Subsidy Agency increased in 2009, and the number of families increased slightly.

Families Losing Social Assistance

Continued on page 3

TV set and books push the family above the poverty lineKetevan VASHAGASHVILI

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT2

All material copyrighted 2008

CAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND

MEDIA MANAGEMENT

The Brosse Street Journal

welcomes letters to the editor

Please make submissions to:

2 Brosset St., Tbilisi Georgia

jschool@gipa.getel: (+995 32) 923952fax:(+995 32) 931466

BSJ reserves the right to edit submissions for

length and clarity

R e p o r t e r sNatalie Nozadze

Sophio Ebralidze

Ketevan Vashagashvili

Marinka Gharibashvili

Ketevan Ebanoidze

Salome Kasradze

Lika Kasradze

Ia Gavasheli

Zaka Guluyev

Gayane Avetisyan

Marianna Pepanyan

Vusala Alibayli

Sabina Akbarova

Khanim Javadova

Alana Gagloeva

Vugar Baba

Eka Chitanava

Rusudan Panozishvili

Malkhaz Chkadua

E d i t o r sMargie Freaney

Tiko Tsomaia

Leli Blagonravova

Sub Editors

Sophio Ebralidze

Ketevan Vashagashvili

Alana Gagloeva

Salome Kasradze

D e a nMaia Mikashavidze

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 3

He said that if passengers knew the number of monitors, it would nega-tively aff ect the new system.

“It is a secret of fi rm,” he said. Th e monthly salary of the bus mon-

itors in Tbilisi is 600 lari.

REPLACING OLD WAYSIn 2004, Georgian government

bought new yellow buses, but the usual system of paying continued. Drivers collected money directly from the pas-sengers, who paid when disembarking.

“Th ere was no fi ne for not paying and the only punishment for the dis-obedient was the quarrel of the strict driver,” said Besik Natenadze, the General Director of the L.T.D Tbilisi’s Buses.

Th e company was established by Tbilisi City Hall and is part of the gov-ernment of Tbilisi. All buses in Tbilisi are under the authority of LTD Tbilisi’s Buses.

“We think that the new system will help both riders and, of course, driv-ers, who are free from the work of con-ductors, and do not have any touch the money,” said Natenadze.

Under the old system, drivers were responsible for collecting money from passengers, and at the end of each day they were expected to turn over about 170 lari to the bus company. Th e sal-ary of drivers was 2.5 lari per hour and in addition, they received 12 percent of the sum they collected every day. A

working day was about 11 hours. Drivers could earn about 48 lari a

day, on a good day. But a weekend or holiday might mean they had to put in their own money to pay the 170 lari to the company.

“Th ere were lots of problems be-cause of this system,” according to Jokhadze.

Drivers raced along the streets to get as many passengers and fares as possible, to increase their daily pay, or they might drive more slowly if that was better for their pocketbook.

“It caused lots of problems, buses were always late,” Jokhadze said.

Under the new system, drivers’ sala-ries will be raised to 4.5 lari per hour, and they will not have to worry about collecting from passengers. Jokhadze thinks it will solve most of the prob-lems.

ADJUSTING TO NEW SYSTEMAutomatic fare machines changed

Irakli Sikharulidze’s life; he is a driver of Bus # 21.

“To tell the truth, I feel more relaxed now, I do not have to count: two origi-nal tickets plus one student and one for socially unsecured. I do not have to drive, look in the mirrors at the same time [to make sure all passengers have paid] and also I do not worry about fulfi lling the plan any more, but I have not got the higher salary yet and I can-not say that I am satisfi ed,” he said.

Teimuraz Aleksidze, 46, said he is

glad about the new system. Th anks to the new fare machines, he has a job.

He is one of the monitors, also called controllers, who will ride the buses.

“Controllers will have really very hard work; they will begin at 7 o’clock and in the middle of the day will be shifted. Th ey will face some obstacles, even struggles, and that’s why we se-lected them specially. Controllers should be patient, attentive, polite and careful,” said Gela Sabadze, head of the monitoring department of Buses of Tbilisi.

Aleksidze is not worried about the diffi culties of his new job.

“Every day I and every member of my family travel by buses, I know what kinds of passengers are there, I know how to deal with them,” said Aleksidze.

“We shall not begin fi ning passen-gers until each of them understands how to take tickets,” said Besik Nat-enadze General Director of Buses of Tbilisi.

Th e company also trained students from universities to show passengers how to buy tickets. Th ey are employed for just the 10 days when the new sys-tem goes into eff ect. Kesaria Papava, 19, studies in the Th eological Institute. She agreed to take this job because students get 200 lari for 10 days.

In the fi rst 10 mornings of the new system, 700 students will work in the buses, explaining the system to pas-sengers. Jokhadze, of the city’s trans-

portation department, hopes those 10 days will be enough to let all bus riders know how to buy tickets automati-cally.

Th e automatic fare machine project was funded by Bank of Georgia. Ivane Gulmagarashvili, project manager of the Bank of Georgia, said that the proj-ect cost 7 million lari ($4.4 million). Each fare machine costs

990 euro ($1,224). Th is year the bank will produce new

credit cards for its customers. Th e cards will serve as transport cards in the metro and in the buses as well.

Th e money paid by special elec-tronic cards in the buses is transferred to the bank’s account. Moreover, the partner company of the Bank of Geor-gia, “Metro service+,” prints the cards and the partner company gets profi t from each card sold.

PROS AND CONSNot all passengers are happy about

the new system, however. “It will not work in Georgia. We’ll

see people will not get used to it; it is too confusing,” said Tamara Didava, 46, while disembarking from bus # 21.

“I have exactly 50 tetri and I cannot pay,” said Gaioz Kartvelishvili 74, rid-ing on bus # 57.

One of the main complaints of the bus riders is that the automatic ma-chines do not give change.

Some of the passengers are satis-fi ed, though.

Nino Khantadze, 31, works in pub-lic television, and every morning for about three years she has taken two buses from Vake to Kostava

“I understood everything. It’s quite easy and I think that it’s a normal idea. We had to wait for driver until he gave change, and now we can embark through the back door. I really like it,” she said

Th e payment of 12 lari per family member doubled to 24 lari.

Tamar Japaridze and her grandchil-dren fi rst became eligible for the aid in 2005. Th e assistance was not a lot — 54 lari per month (30 for Tamar and 12 for each adolescent), but it was relief for the grandmother, a cancer patient who had been taking care of her two grandchil-dren for 10 years already, after her son and husband died and her daughter-in-law remarried and left the family.

But in October 2008, the family was evaluated once again. Th ough the fam-ily’s income was still the orphans’ pen-sions (110 lari) and Tamar Japaridze’s teacher salary (45 lari), their point to-tal on the Social Assistance scale rose above the poverty line.

Th eir living conditions had not changed; only the television set was added. Japaridze received corporate securities from her deceased hus-band’s working place eight years after his death and sold them for 600 lari, in summer of 2007. With that money, the family bought a color Samsung televi-sion set for 180 lari, three textbooks for the children and also paid off an electricity debt that had been piling up for years. In fact, Japaridze said, she still has not paid for one of the three textbooks.

Japaridze was classifi ed as a person with disability in 2005, but in the of-fi cial documentation in 2008, this line was left empty by the evaluator. Yet her health has not improved. She has had Stage III cancer for 10 years.

But all of these factors – the television, the textbooks, the failure to

be classifi ed as disable – were part of the Social Assistance evaluation. And now the family has scored too high on the list of factors to continue receiving aid.

“I tried to explain to the social workers that I have bought TV set and books with the compensation, but they did not even listen to me,” she said.

“Two adolescents and a 57-year-old cancer patient live without heating for a week already. Should we live in the open sky to get the status of the fam-ily under the line of poverty?” asked Tamar Japaridze.

In fact, though, homeless persons are not eligible at all for Social Assis-tance, because the evaluation method is based on factors that assess the liv-ing conditions of the family. Since homeless people have no living condi-tions to evaluate, they cannot not re-ceive Social Assistance.

Ioseb Bregvadze, First Deputy to the Director of the Social Subsidy Agency, concedes that the method of deciding who is eligible for Social As-sistance has many fl aws. But it is new to Georgia, he added, and the process is still being refi ned.

He also said that social workers lack training and their evaluation of a family’s need for fi nancial aid may be subjective.

“Some people have a good meth-od of keeping the curtains and social worker may think that it is new, but in spite of good looks it is maybe 25 years old. So it is diffi cult to see the re-ality after seeing the family only once,” Bregvadze said.

As a result of dissatisfaction with the method of evaluating families eli-

gible for Social Assistance, the Minis-try has now hired a fi rm, Partnership for Social Initiatives, which will rede-sign the evaluation procedure.

Japaridze said that she was shocked when she saw that the family had scored 78,050 points – more than 44,630 points above the 57,001 points declared as the poverty line.

She and her two grandchildren live in one room with a small kitchen and no bathroom. Th ey don’t even have enough beds. Th ey have a refrigerator, but cannot use it, as they cannot pay for electricity to run it.

Archil Talakvadze, adviser to the Public Defender, thinks that many cri-teria in the department’s method of assessing need are far from reality. A

family should be assessed according to its income and not by a television set, curtains, books and other small items. Such amenities can be taken into con-sideration, but it should not become the reason for refusal, he said.

Mamuka Nadareishvili, Adviser at the Social Subsidy Agency, who helped to create the method used to assess families’ eligibility for Social Assistance, said that the method has a 30 per cent error possibility. He said poverty is a subjective issue and social workers are people with a subjective point of view.

Th e Social Subsidy Agency does not consider a television set as a basic need for a family, yet 60 per cent of families below the poverty line have a television

set, according to the Deputy to the Di-rector of the Social Subsidy Agency.

“Priority is given to the families liv-ing without a TV set, as the purpose of the program is to fi ght against hunger,” said Bregvadze.

Talakvadze, the Public Defender’s adviser, thinks that when poor families get no assistance, while families liv-ing in better circumstances do receive public aid, there is a sense of injustice.

Th ere are cases where a family gets only social assistance and no other income during two years, but still the amount of government aid gives them a better standard of living and they are no longer considered to be under the poverty line.

“It looks like we give them food and we grab it ourselves,” said Bregvadze.

Th at’s why the Social Subsidy Agency asked Parliament to change the period of assistance from two years to four. Parliament approved the initiative, meaning families will be evaluated only every four years instead of every two.

Th ere are other problems with the declaration or statement that must be fi led by families seeking state assis-tance. For example, a family may own property, but if that property is not rented or otherwise in use, it does not have to be listed on the statement of assets and revenue.

At the Social Subsidy Agency, Tamar Japaridze was advised to wait for a year, in hopes she can be placed back on the assistance roll, but it is diffi cult for her to wait so long. She is still hoping the Public Defender’s offi ce will be able to fi nd some solution to the problem.

New Bus Fare System Debuts The new project is organized to make people pay, and to make drivers of the buses drive at normal speed and to arrive at bus stops according to the schedule

(Continued from page one)

(Continued from page one)

Families Losing Social Assistance

Kitchen of the Japaridze family. Photo by Ketevan VashagaSvili

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT4

This year in Gudauri is different with

its shortage of guests. In sum there

is 90 percent reduce of foreign tour-

ists in Georgia after the August war

Gudauri, one of Georgia’s top tour-ist attractions, is having one of the worst seasons in its history, thanks to the lingering eff ects of the war in Au-gust, the current economic situation and a mild winter.

A press release by the Department of Tourism and Resorts issued after the war for foreign journalists said that “Th e winter ski resorts Gudauri and Bakuriani have not suff ered by this confl ict and they are ready to host skiers and other holidaymakers, off er-ing them all the necessary facilities for spending extraordinary winter experi-ences.”

But that apparently does not refl ect reality.

Gela Burduli cannot remember a worse season than this one.

He is an owner of the Guest House Shamo in Gudauri. He is worried about the current season.

“I know the situation and can say that the other hotel owners are in my situation. Before we were trying to help each other and often sent guests when we had not enough numbers, but this time it is impossible, while I get only 20 percent of tourists that I had in pre-vious years” he said.

Th ere are 10 rooms in his hotel and the cost is about 100 lari ($62.50) per night. Burduli said that in past years, he had many tourists from the Ukraine and Russia, but this year they are not coming to Gudauri.

Georgians come for a day on the weekend, but do not spend the night, he said. Burduli believes that the shortage of tourists is connected with the August war and the economic cri-sis, because in past there were milder winters and less snow, but not such awful results.

Medea Janiashvili, the head of the offi ce of Domestic Tourism and Analysis, in Th e Ministry of Economic

Development, said that after the war, there is a 90 percent decline of tourists in Georgia. Th e tourism department cannot confi rm the tourism situation in Gudauri right now, she said, be-cause the current season is still under research and the statistics will be ready at the beginning of March.

Mamuka Burduli, owner of the ski equipment shop Mogzauri, rents ski equipment in Gudauri and in Tbilisi. Burduli considers the tourism season collapsed.

“An especially bad situation is after the middle of January. I was in Gudauri then, and it was really shocking when I was looking at empty ski roads. Th ere were only about 10 people,” he said.

Tbilisi City Hall is doing some-thing to help out, allocating 80,000 lari ($50,000) to fi nance ski trips to Gua-dari for college students, in a program

it calls “Good Aura.”Levan Ekhvaia, head of City Hall’s

Division of Juvenile Aff airs Monitor-ing, said that the aim of “Good Aura” is to make Gudauri aff ordable for youth.

Every Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m., marshutkas leave from Republic Square for Gudauri. Th e youth pro-gram also provides a discount on lift tickets: Th e usual price of 25 lari is re-duced to 10 lari for students. Th ere is also a 12 percent discount on ski rent-als.

When the ski lifts stop working at 5 p.m., the students come back to Tbilisi on the marshutkas. At the end of the ski season, there will be a competition for students and the winner will get a prize of ski equipment.

By the end of the season, Ekhvaia thinks that 3,000 to 4,000 students will have taken advantage of the program.

Burduli said he is cooperating with the eff ort by renting skis at a discount. He off ers students sales on skis and rents them for 25 lari instead of 30 lari. He considers it profi table because the students will be his permanent cus-tomers in the future and help increase income this season.

Giorgi Shamatava, head of Tbilisi State University Self-Government Or-ganization, said that “Good aura” is an opportunity for students spend a pleasant weekend and get know each other.

“Th e discount is important for them because not everybody has money to go to Gudauri,” he said.

“It is cool! It is opportunity of healthy entertainment,” said 18-years-old Lasha Moniava, a student of Tbilisi State University, from Law Faculty. For

him it is a cheaper way to go to Gu-dauri. He has his own ski equipment. He has to pay only 10 lari for the ski lift and to eat something.

But for 19-year-old Keti Naski-dashvili, a student of TSU Humani-tarian Faculty, it is impossible to take advantage of the City Hall program. She says the money assigned for stu-dent ski entertainment does not work for her.

She would need 25 lari to rent skis, 10 lari for a lift ticket, 5-10 lari for food and 25 lari for a ski instructor, for a to-tal of 65-70 lari

“I really wish to join them but I can-not… I and most of my student friends do not work and our parents cannot fi -nance us to spend so much money for a day,” She said.

Janiashvili agrees that projects such as “Good Aura” stimulate domestic tourism. Asked about the potential political benefi t of the ski program – whether it is designed to encourage students to support the government — Ekhvaia said it’s not an issue.

“If I do not spend money but do nothing, people would say that I am useless and should not get the wage. But if the students really like this proj-ect it is good, it proves that my initia-tive is correct. Why should I do such project which will not be popular for the government?” he said.

Levan Giorgobiani, 24, admits that skiing is quite expensive. He cannot take the advantage of the Gudauri pro-gram, because he is not a student.

Giorgobiani said he usually spends a large sum skiing each season, but this year is diff erent. Hard economic times in general have made him unable to spend money on skiing.

“So much money for only one day, without even spending the night… what can I do when I am just a ski lov-er, a young guy and not the owner of a bank?” he said.

Gudauri Season CollapsesTbilisi City Hall assigned 80,000 Lari for student program “Good-Aura”

Lika KASRADZE

Your realiable source of

information

catch the right wave

Empty rope-way in Gudauri. photo by Lika Kasradze.

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 5

City Hall Destroys Houses

The representatives of City Hall’s

supervision department destroyed

5 from 100 illegally built houses in

Afrika suburb. Those whose houses

were destroyed say that supervisions

department destroyed their houses

without any warning. No City Hall

official responds to questions about

the destruction of the houses

He is one of fi ve people who live in a fl at that has only one room. A wall in the middle of the room divides the sleeping area and kitchen. Th ere is only one window, with a brown cur-tain. Th e room smells of smoke from a wood stove.

Th e other residents of the apart-ment are Manuchar Sigua’s mother, sister, brother-in-law, and his sister’s son. In two more weeks, there will be a sixth person in the apartment, when his sister gives birth to her second child.

But on the land where Sigua had al-most fi nished building a new house for his family, there are only bricks now.

Th e land is located about 13 kilo-meters from Tbilisi, in a suburb nick-named Afrika by Georgians, because it is far from Tbilisi center. Only two municipal buses pass there: number 2 and number 97.

Seven years ago, in the place of Af-rika that is about 10 hectares, there are only vacant land and dust. Sigua and his family members and neighbors cleaned the land and built approxi-mately 150 houses on it. Some of the approximately 100 people started liv-ing in the houses they had built.

But on December 14, City Hall rep-resentatives ordered residents of that land who had built houses to destroy them, because the owner of the prop-erty, they said, was City Council and people were living there illegally. Th e families resisted destroying the hous-es, but on the same day, City Hall su-pervision department representatives destroyed fi ve of the houses.

Th ere are two schools in Afrika sub-urb: Georgian and Russian. Back from Russian school # 94 is the land where the Siguas and other people built the houses seven years ago. Th ese people are mostly from villages, and there are also refugees. Th ey were living in dor-mitories in Tbilisi. Others came from the regions in hopes of fi nding a job in the city. Most of them are unemployed. Th ey cannot fi nd jobs.

“Our government doesn’t let us live. Th ey say we should live outside and die of starvation. What municipal depart-ment shall we ask for help? Tbilisi City Hall keeps us down,” says Aleksandre Iaganashvili, one of those who built a house that was later destroyed.

Th ose who built the houses in Afrika seven years ago have a docu-ment from Public Register’s National Agency in the Ministry of Justice that says no one is the owner of the land in Afrika and it is not registered in the Public Register’s National Agency as belonging to City Hall. Th ey showed

these documents to the Brosse Street Journal.

Aleko Gvaramia, a lawyer of Land-owner Right Defenders private asso-ciation says that the document allows those whose houses were knocked down to fi ght with City Hall in court.

Gvaramia is not familiar with this particular case, but he said an aerial photo of the land is needed to regis-ter the houses in the Public Register’s National Agency. Th ose who built the houses should send all documents to City Hall, he said. After that, he thinks they could get right of property recog-nition. He also said he can help people who built houses in the suburb if they ask him.

Aleksandre Zurabishvili, one of those who built a house in the suburb, said he sent the documents, except for the aerial photo, to City Hall but did not receive an answer yet. He said he was astonished when City Hall’s supervision department employees came and tried to destroy his house. Th e house is partially destroyed at the moment. Only walls remain.

“City Hall representatives came without warning and started destroy-ing. Th ere were approximately 50 people, including police and hired workers. We resisted them doing it. But they were more and stronger. We even took one of our neighbors to the hospital,” he said.

Gvaramia advises the people to col-lect evidence — they claim to have a video recording of that fi ght — and send it to court. Th ey should bring an action against City Hall, he said.

“Th ey can even send a declaration to President Saakashvili. [But} if they will just tell their story, nobody will help them. Th ey should act, act, and then their issue could not been ig-nored. Somebody will help them. At the moment they don’t have a lot of proof,” he said

An offi cial at City Hall’s local depart-ment, which includes Afrika suburb,

said he knows little about the situation in which the houses were destroyed. Temur Grigalashvili, head of the local department, said he does not know the details because no one contacted him or gave him a statement. Grigalashvili says that he is not closely connected with City Hall on this matter. But he also thinks that city offi cials probably acted fairly. Without proof, they would not destroy the houses, he said.

But he said he would look into the situation.

“Every single issue that would excite our citizens will be important for me. So, from now on, this theme will be my closest work,» said Grigalashvili.

A press spokeswoman, Dali Balamtsarashvili, who refused to give her surname, said that Dato Avaliani, chairman of City Hall’s supervision de-partment, would not comment on the case. Th e same press spokeswoman said there is no City Hall offi cial who could respond to questions about the destruction of the houses.

Kakha Kodjoridze, of Georgian Young Lawyers Association, an NGO on legal matters, said it is not fair to destroy someone’s house without any warning. Th e supervision department should send a written order about the intent to destroy and gave those who built the

houses 20 days to respond, he said. After 20 days, offi cials should visit

the site and see if the order is be-ing followed. If not, the supervision department should make a decision about imposing a fi ne and or tearing down the houses, he said. According to the builders of the houses, they nev-er received any notifi cation from City Hall until workers arrived and began destroying the houses.

“Without the written order, the de-stroying process is absolutely an illegal operation. No matter if people were living there illegitimately,” said Kod-joridze.

Th ose who built the houses say they have heard nothing from city hall in response to their complaints and the documents they fi led. Every one who built the houses submitted documents two months ago.

Manuchar Sigua, sitting by the wood stove in his six-meter square room, says, “I am asking nothing to the City Hall, all I want is to meet our Mayor Gigi Ugulava and talk to him. He is not a wolf but the usual person. Oh, no, he is the mayor, but how can he know his citizens’ problems and ail-ments if he will not meet us? A week ago I went to the City Hall, hoping meet Ugulava, but nobody let me in.”

Those whose houses were destroyed say supervision department destroyed their houses without any warning. City Hall refuses to respond to questions about the destruction of the houses.

Salome KASRADZE

photo by Salome Kasradze.

I am asking nothing to the City Hall, all I want is to meet our Mayor Gigi Ugulava and talk to him

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT6

Ketevan EBANOIDZE

Parking officerGivi Inanashvili, 65, has been working as a parking officer on Kostava Street #67 for about three years. All day long, he helps people to park and get in and out of parking spaces safely.

Inanashvili, who has a secondary education, was a taxi driver for about 17 years, but because of his age he decided to change his job. To be a parking officer is definitely not his desired job; he would rather be a security guard.

Although there is a sign at his parking area announcing that parking costs 50 tetri, he says most drivers treat him as a beggar.

“It would be much easier for me to be a guard. I am very tired with begging the whole time,” he said with tears in his eyes and added, “It is very hard for me to work here, because I am ashamed.”

Even though the official price of parking is 50 tetri, most drivers give him just 20 or 30 tetri.

“Some of them do not give me even a tetri and start quarreling and shouting at me, saying, ‘Why should I pay? I do not need your help,” he said.

Despite his tiring job, from 9 o’clock in the morning till 5 in the evening, he earns just about 4 lari per day. However, he still thinks that there are many kind people living in Tbilisi.

“I remember once a young man presented me with 30 lari. I never forget this day,” he said.

He is the only breadwinner in his family. His monthly income is about 200 lari, including 82 lari from his pension. He has two orphaned grandchildren, and out of 4 lari he earns in a day, 2 lari belongs to them, so they have money to get to university and then back home.

“In other case, I would definitely give up my job,” Ianishvili said.

Twice while talking, he interrupted the con-versation and rushed as fast as he could, to avoid losing 20 tetri.

Gayane AVETISYAN

Waitress Maia Jaoshvili works as a waitress at

Chakrulo restaurant on Rustaveli Avenue because she needs money. She has two children and she is divorced.

Jaoshvili, 38, who studied geophysics, has been working in different restaurants for 8 years.

“When people go away with a smile on their face, you feel their expectations are fulfilled and they are thankful, it is the best way your work is paid,” she says.

Bur she doesn’t find her job interesting. Various people come to their restaurant and waitresses ought to smile and be gentle to everyone: “Even to those who consider us prostitutes.”She says many customers seem to think waitresses are not respectable and have no families. But Jaoshvili does think that waitress-ing is important.

“Many hungry and thirsty people come to us, it’s we who help them, “ she said.

Jaoshvili complains she works all day long, leaving no time to be with the family. She works from 9 a .m. to 11 p. m (sometimes even longer) and the salary 500 to 600 lari per month.

In the past, she worked as a teacher of phys-ics, at Abasturmani Astrophysical Observatory.

She dreams of having a lot of money, having her own office and working in the professional sphere.

Ketevan VASHAGASHVILI

Odd and ends Seller

At 8 a.m., Tbilisi is waking up. People are rushing through the streets to their jobs. Tsisana Bakanidze, 73, dressed in black, worn-out clothes, already sits behind her small coun-ter, near the Akhmeteli Metro station, selling candles, icons and other odds and ends.

Her working day starts at 7 a.m. and lasts till 9 p.m. every day. She says she feels embar-rassed about standing in the street and selling, but more important things exist than her own arrogance. “I have been standing here since my grandchildren became students. It is 13 years already,” says Bakanidze. “One day I told myself that I do not have right to think about my pride, as I had nobody to help and children needed to be nurtured.”

Bakanidze is from Ozurgeti. For years, her only job was caring for her family and house. But things changed. She recalls her time at home as happy and wishes she never had 13 years of experience standing in the street.

Selling goods on the street for a 73-year-old woman is not easy, especially in bad weather, but she thinks the reward for her work — assistance to her family — is so big that she does it with pleasure.

“My income is very low, just enough for food, but I have no choice. When you have no choice, you have to look at things with humor, because you may be deprived even of this job,” she says.

On one occasion, she was arrested by the police, when government banned vendors from selling in the streets.

“Sometimes very strange things can hap-pen in your life that you can never imagine. Of course I was soon released and today I am joking about the incident, but it was not funny then,” she admits.

She has only one dream: to be at home and be a housewife again.

“I think it is time for me to sit at home and forget about the severe experiences,” She said.

Marinka GHARIBASHVILI

Apartment guard

Gia Janjalia, 45, has been working for about six years as a guard for the yard of Khazbegi Avenue apartment building number 2A.

He sits for 24 hours, from one morning to the next, in a small cabin in the yard and guards the cars and the flats in the building. On the next morning, another guard comes on duty and Janjalia is free for one day.

Before getting this job, Janjalia was a private taxi driver. He had his own car and used to take passengers from one place to another.

Then because of some problems, he had to sell the car and that’s why he changed his job.

Janjalia and his colleague get 25 lari per month from each family in the yard. There are 36 families, so the two guards get 900 lari per month or 450 lari apiece. “My work is really hard. I have to keep awake whole night, payment is quite normal but some of the inhabitants of the yard usually delay giving money and some-times we have to ask them for several weeks,” said Janjalia.

Once when he was on duty, some men entered the yard and tried to rob one of the cars. He rushed out of the cabin, and it appeared that there were five of them, not only drunk but with guns in their hands.

“The dog of our yard helped me that day very much — he began to bark at the robbers and they disappeared. Bombora is always with me,” said Janjalia.

On some occasions, he has had to call the police.

He likes his job, loves that people trust him, loves to know that they sleep calmly because of him, but still recalls affectionately his car and the period when he was a taxi driver.

“I am really missing that period, different pas-sengers different stories, and different streets of Tbilisi, that is really my profession,” he said and

then added very quickly, “To tell the truth, inter-esting people and interesting stories can be found in this yard as well.”

Nevertheless Janjalia still hopes that one day he will buy a new car and will put a yellow sign on it.

Natalie NOZADZE

TV producer Kakha Melikidze has no certain working

hours. One day he works from 11 a.m. until 1 a.m., and the next day he might work from just seven a.m. till 10 a.m.

Melikidze, 35, a television producer, graduat-ed from Shota Rustaveli State University, cinema producing faculty, in 1994. Soon after graduating, a friend who worked in television told Melikidze that the morning program Alioni was looking for an assistant producer. For few months, he worked on probation at First Channel. In 1999 he was hired as an assistant producer. Three years ago, Melikidze was promoted to the posi-tion of morning program producer.

He’s in good humor all the time, colleagues say. He can sit for hours with a journalist in a newsroom, explaining how to improve their reports.

“Melikidze is a very attentive person. It’s enough to ask him one advice about the job when he is ready to tell you ten,” said journalist Mari Shengelia.

He said the hardest thing for him is to explain to his staff members what their obligations are, and to help them fulfill their obligations fault-lessly.

Melikidze likes airing the morning program live best of all his duties. He said that a lot of interesting and unexpected things happen dur-ing live broadcasts. “I can compare the airing of program live with extreme sports. You are not insured against any mistake and you know that this mistake will cost you a lot,” said Melikidze.

He hates swearing, but sometimes he admit-ted that he can’t control himself when things go wrong at work.

If he had the chance to change something about his job, he would change the management of his program. Melikidze said his program is not well organized.

Tbilisi at Work

photo by Alana Gagloeva

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 7

He recalls something that happened a few years ago that seemed awful at the time, but today he recalls the situation with humor. “Three years ago when I was working as a producer’s assistant, I got drunk at work. When I woke up the program was already over. I still don’t know who aired the program,” he said.

Melikidze cannot imagine what job other than producing he would like to have. He said that he would go into the military if he didn’t have this work. His love of the military is known to those who work with him.“We have a tradition at work to collect money and to buy birthday presents for our staff members. A week before Melikidze’s birthday, we found a state-ment hanging on the wall. It said: “Hey guys I know that you are going to buy a birthday pres-ent for me, so let me give you a hint. I need three editions of new military books published in 2007. You can buy them in the book shop Santa Esperansa for 42 lari.”

“We were really grad to give him the present, he wanted,” recalls journalist Nata Sharabidze.

Melikidze thinks that his job is important, because his program is about people. He knows people see his work, though they may not real-ize his part in it. “You maybe not be a devoted spectator of morning program Alioni, but I bet that once in your life time you have glanced at it,” said Melikidze.

Salome KASRADZE

SecretaryThough he is 83, he is hurrying around at

work. There are no spots on his clothes. His boots look worn, but they are carefully cleaned. He is shaved and smells of perfume. Jumber Nikolaishvili works for a private business com-pany as a chief ’s secretary. For 45 years, until 2000, he worked for the milk factory Amaltea as the chief of production department. This job was close to his profession, as he is a veteran. Even though he now earns a higher salary than in the factory, he misses his old job. “Amaltea was one of the biggest factories of natural milk products in Tbilisi. I enjoyed my work as I was confident that Amaltea’s products were whole-some for the consumers,” says Nikolaishvili.

Now he thinks that his job is useful only for a few people who work for the company. His work is the same every day and can be boring. That’s why he wants to work again in the factory. But Amaltea does not exist any more. So he is con-tinuing to earn his living in the private office.

There is nothing he would change in his job. He knows that how good this job could be it won’t compare with Amaltea.

Nikolaishvili thinks that his job is not impor-tant for the people living in Georgia. It might be important for him and his chief, for other employees also. But it does not mean that they are doing amazingly important work.They are just earning their living, he says.

Marianna PEPANYAN

Newspaper seller

Every morning she comes to work at 8 a.m. to sell newspapers, and finishes at 6 p.m.

Rusudan Amaglobeli, 44, was born in Tbilisi and works near the Opera in the open air.

“I am a designer of garden flowers, but my profession is seasonal and I can’t get work in winter,’’ said Amaglobelli.

There is no demand today in Georgia for garden designers. “I prepared gardens of many of Armenian’s ministers, for example Vano

Siradexyan,” said Amaglobelli. He was the min-ister of domestic affairs.

Her friend helped her to get the job selling newspapers.

“It is difficult to have a job in Georgia and it doesn’t matter how much they pay you,” she said. She earns 215 lari a month. She has worked here for six months. “This is not enough to keep your family,” said Amaglobelli. But she said that when she goes to work, she leaves all her problems at home. “It’s not the customer’s fault that I have problems,” she said. “I have no money to buy newspapers, but here I can read about every-thing,” she said and that’s why she likes her job. “I read newspapers, journals about flower cul-ture, politics.” But she wants to have additional time for her family and for her home garden.

Sometimes she finds a similarity between her customers or passersby and flowers. ”I think this girl is like a rose, this other like a lily,” she said.

She would like to return to her profession and have a sustainable job.

“But it is impossible in future, because every-where younger workers are wanted,” she said.

Rusudan doesn’t complain of her life. “If I have a choice to born again, I prefer to choose just the same way of my life,” she said.

She dreams of opening a big flower market in Tbilisi, where she can gather all kinds of flowers of the world. “I hope that God will never take my life until I do it,” she said.

Khanim JAVADOVA

Street vendorShe sits and sells sweets at the entrance to a

building on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. She has a stout body and face, with large

eyes and silver hair. She is 50-year-old Nana Barsmanishvili, a private street vendor. She says that this work is not interesting, although she finds it easy to sit and sell goods —chewing gum, cakes, sweets, French fries or pop-corn which her boss brought from the Railway Station Bazaar. But she says it is hard for her to spend all night at work. She works 24 hours straight, and then takes off for two days. She earns 10 lari per working day.

She graduated from the chemistry faculty of Georgian Technical Institute (GTI) and then worked as an engineer for a chemistry factory. But the factory was closed in 1992. Barsmanshvili has worked as a vendor since then. She says she did not look much for work at that time. She applied for one or two jobs, but after getting negative responses, she gave up. She said that she is ashamed to introduce herself. “I gradu-ated from weighty faculty, but I work here now,” she said. Now, she said, she cannot find work because the jobs are only for younger people. No one wants to employ a 50-year-old woman.

Barsmanshvili has never married and says she has no family. Although the money she earns is not enough for her, she tries to get along on it, paying for gas, electricity water and food. But she said she doesn’t have any problems other than her unemployment. Barsmanshvili wants to work as an engineer again.

Gvantsa BARBAKADZE

GuardRezo Gogoladze, 70, worked for 22 years as

a taxi driver. Now he works in Chrysler Center, a car dealership in Didube, as a guard.

Gogoladze works every third day for 24 hours. It is not easy to miss nights of sleep at his age, but he is happy to have the job and the wage.

“In my job, I like that I am a necessary person

and I like that I am defending the center against the stealing,” he said.

The dangerous thing in his job is that he could be injured.There is no guarantee that won’t happen.

Gogoladze’s best friend, Givi Nozadze, is 68. He worked in construction for 35 years in Tbilisi, building offices. He was a successful worker, but now he works as a guard with his friend, Givi said.

“We are best friends for the last 30 years, Rezo is a very good person, he doesn’t like to tell lies and talk much, he is a really a very respect-able man,” Nozadze said of his friend.

The two men have been working together in the Chrysler Center for 3 years.

Gogoladze is very punctual, according to his friend. Only once, he did not come to work and everyone was astonished.

“But then we found out that the reason was that his daughter got married,” Nozadze said.

Nino Gogoladze, Gogoladze’s daughter, is 30. She has been working as an operator in Kaztransgaz for three years.

“He is the best father. A year ago, my mother died and my father made everything for me and my sister,” she said. “I don’t like that he is work-ing, because of his health. He is 70 and I think it’s little hard for him.”

Even so, Nino Gogoladze said, he is happy and he enjoys his work, this is the most impor-tant thing in his life.

She said that soon her father will have a grandson. She hopes he will leave his job and be responsible for bringing up his grandson.

Vusala ALIBAYLI

LaborerHe spends most of his time not with family,

but with stones, woods and hammer. Nodar Tabatadze, 47, from Borjomi, says that it is the only way for him to earn money. Tabadadze is a laborer. He will have a job until a building on Brosse Street is destroyed.

He is enclosing a dangerous place with wood fences, and then painting them. As the building is destroyed, he also cleans all trash – stones, woods, nails.

“Do I find my job interesting? No, it is not interesting for me. Because my education level is not for this job,” he said.

Tabadadze used to be an electrical engineer at a factory in Borjomi. During the Soviet era, he was a chief mechanic.”When I apply for job they say we need only younger workers,” he says.

He found his job with the help of a friend. He has had the job since 2000.”I worked as an engineer till Saakashvili was elected, but after he became a president I have no job in my profes-sion,” Tabadadze said.

He usually earns 10 to 20 lari per day. Sometimes it’s as high as 30 lari. Tabadadze says that his earnings depend on him. The longer he works, the more he gets. He lives with his son who is studying in Tbilisi.

“My wife and daughter live in Borjomi, I see them once a month. This work is unpleasant for me. I would like to be with my family and work according to my profession in Borjomi. It is hard to live far from my family,” he said.

IA GAVASHELI

DoctorIt was many years ago when Miranda

Gogishvili, now 29, moved toTbilisi from the region where she grew up. At the time, she was preparing to enter Tbilisi State Medical University and become a doctor. Her childhood

dream came true. After getting her bachelor’s degree, she had a residency and training in the National Oncologic Centre.

Now, for about two years, she has been work-ing at a private oncological clinic, Medulla. It was not easy to get a job in a time when there is a lot of unemployment in Georgia, but she considers that after studying for about 10 years and getting experience in her field, she was worthy of it.

Gogishvili adores her profession even though her job is very difficult, physically and psycho-logically. Her working day begins at 9:30 a.m. and no one knows exactly when it will finish. She is often busy on weekends as well. But that is not the great difficulty of her job.

The main complication is that her patients are mortal. Because Gogishvili is an oncologist and cancer is an incurable illness, in many cases, death is unavoidable. “I am glad that in my life I have the ability to help sick people, it is a great obligation and responsibility for me and I do it with great pleasure. But I am sorry that in many cases I can only prolong my patient’s lives, not cure them,” she said. Gogishvili tries to do everything to help her patients, to mitigate their pain and make their last months or days easier. “Maybe I have the most awful job in the world, but it is one of the most important jobs as well,” she said.

Every day she meets people with the worst diseases and because of her experience, she can help them, not only as a doctor, but as a friend, perhaps even more then their real friends and relatives, who are usually under stress.

Despite the difficulties connected with being a doctor, the profession is so important to her that Gogishvili has no idea what she would do if she were not a doctor.

But she has another profession as well: She is a specialist of foreign languages and if she were not a doctor, she would probably be a pedagogue.

Sabina AKBAROVA

Parking officer

Tengiz Bortsvadze knows a lot about cars, their models, years and so on. But he has never owned a car in his 74 years and he also has never been a fan of cars.

“Drive, drive here. Turn to the right but a little back. OK,” he told a driver who wanted to park his car on the side of the road.

Bortsvadze is a road security guard on Leselidze Street. He helps drivers to park their cars and six days in a week, from 11 a.m. till 7 p.m.

If drivers need, Bocadze can easily give them directions. He worked as a plasterer in the con-struction of many buildings in Tbilisi before he retired. He can also direct drivers in different language. Beside Georgian, he knows Russian and a little of Azeri and Armenian languages. He said that parking costs 50 tetri. But there were several drivers who didn’t pay. “What can I do? If they don’t pay and drive away?” he asks.

Bocadze said that he has to work now, despite his age. “If I don’t work, I can’t live with my pen-sion. It is very low, 70 lari. This place is private. I pay 10 lari per day to officer. What remains is enough for me to buy bread,” he said.

Now he is supporting himself and his wife. His wife, 62, retired two years ago and she does not work. They also have two daughters and three grandchildren. They have a son, too. But he was arrested three weeks ago. Bocadze believes their son will be in prison for the next six years. So he is not satisfied with his life, he doesn’t hope for something better. “The life is getting worse day by day. I don’t believe in the future. If it will be better, I will not see it. I can-not live until then,” he said.

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT8

The number of students enrolled

in Armenian schools in Georgia is

steadily declining, as Georgian-Ar-

menians send their children to Rus-

sian, and sometimes to Georgian

schools.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science, there were 150 Armenian schools in Georgia in 2004, with the majority — 120 — in Samtskhe Javakheti, which is largely populated by Armenians. But now the number of Armenian schools has dropped to 140.

Tbilisi had eight Armenian schools in 2004, but now two of the “mixed” Armenian schools (with Georgian or Russian sectors) have been closed. Of the six remaining Armenian schools in Tbilisi, only No.95 and No.104 are solely Armenian.

In Georgia, schools are financed by the government, which provides vouchers to each school for each pupil enrolled. The amount of these vouch-ers ranges from 350 lari ($ 211) to 575 lari ($ 346) per year. If the number of pupils is not enough for a school to exist, it is closed.

Many of Georgian schools are sub-divided into ethnic sectors: Georgian, Russian, Armenian, Azarbaijanian and Ossetian.

In the 4 mixed Armenian schools of Tbilisi, which are subdivided into Georgian, Russian and Armenian sec-tors, more Armenian pupils study than in the Russian sectors than in the Armenian sectors. In the Russian sectors of these four schools, there are 700 Armenian pupils, but only 268 Armenians study in the Armenian sectors.

David Rashoyan, 8th class pupil of School # 131 of Tbilisi (with both Russian and Armenian sectors), can only speak Armenian jargon, which is common among Georgian-Armenians.

“I love Armenia, it is my country,” says the boy.

But he can’t write or read in his mother tongue because he studies at a Russian school.

Inga Kosyan, David Rashoyan’s mother, who speaks Armenian with great difficulty, explains that she was afraid they could have difficulties in helping their child with lessons, because she and her husband do not have an Armenian education.

School # 104, which is fully Armenian, had 270 students 10 years

ago, but today has only 169 children. For the 2008-2009 academic year, just nine children entered the first class, whilst in the upper classes the number of pupils is more than double that.

There are 248,929 Armenians in Georgia, out of which 82,586 live in Tbilisi, according to the latest census figures.

School #86 in Tbilisi’s Havlabar district, home to many Armenians, was closed two years ago because the number of pupils had dropped too low for the school to continue.

Now this school has only Russian and Georgian sectors, where 427 stu-dents are enrolled; 354 of these are Armenians. Among the Armenians, 334 study in the Russian sector and 20 in the Georgian section.

The headmistress of the school, Sussanna Gevorgyan, has her own theory about the reasons for this.

“First of all, Armenians prefer Russian, and sometimes Georgian schools because a great amount of Armenians leave Georgia to earn their living in Russia, speak Russian and want their children to help them in their work later. Besides, many Armenians are sure after graduating from Armenian schools, their children will have difficulties finding a job in Georgia,” she said.

Gevorgyan complained that those who teach in Georgia’s Armenian schools do not go to Armenia often enough to have new and fresh infor-mation from their Armenian col-leagues, because teachers have to bear part of the cost of their re-training.

According to Tamara Zalinyan, specialist in International Cooperation and Diaspora Affairs for Armenia’s Ministry of Education and Science, teachers from the Armenian Diaspora must “re-qualify,” or study the latest developments in Armenian education, in Armenia instead of the country where they live. But the Armenian government pays only their living expenses when they return to study in Armenia, not their transportation

costs.But she said there are plans for the

Armenian government plans to send Armenian specialists to Georgia.

Roza Zohrabyan, a teacher of Armenian language and literature at School # 95, thinks the reason that more Georgian-Armenians don’t send their children to Armenian schools is not in the quality of the teachers. She recalls that during the Soviet era, the quality of Russian schools was high

and many people in Georgia still regard Russian schools as higher qualified than, for example, Armenian schools. But she believes that Armenian schools are equal to Russian ones in quality.

Sevan and Gevorg Aghajanyan, who are brothers, are proud that they graduated from Armenian School # 95. This school today has 87 pupils, down from 119 students in 2004. The Aghajanyan brothers now study at Yerevan State University. They plan to move their parents, grandmother and grandfather to Armenia some day.

“But there are many people who do not have that opportunity to study in Armenia and move there. So they don’t have any choice,” said Sevan Aghajanyan.

The brothers think that those who get an Armenian education can have difficulties entering high educa-tional Institutions in Tbilisi and later on can face difficulties finding jobs, because Georgian is the official edu-cational language in high educational Institutions, so those who do not know the language will be at a disadvantage when it taking entrance tests.

According to a law adopted in 2005, Georgian is the instructional language in all educational institutions. Citizens whose mother tongue is not Georgian have the right to get a secondary education in their mother tongue, but they also must study Georgian, as a state language.

Some Armenians fear that the decline in Armenian education in Georgia will affect other cultural areas.

“By losing schools, we have a risk to lose Armenian theater,” says Armen Bayandouryan, art director of Tbilisi State Armenian Drama Theatre, explaining that many Georgian-Armenians don’t understand plays performed in Armenian.

Manana Karapetyan, a teacher of Armenian language and literature at school # 131, is concerned that if this tendency continues in the future, there will be very few Armenian schools left in Georgia.

Georgian Armenians Graduate Mostly from Russian Schools

School numberNumber of

pupils in Russian sector

Number of pupils in Georgian sector

Number of pupils in Armenian sector

Number of Armenian pupils in Russian sector

Number of Armenian pupils in

Georgian sector

Totalnumber of

pupils in school

110 Centre 290 (No Georgian sector) 120 262 (No Georgian sector) 410

131 Africa 383 (No Georgian sector) 64 179 (No Georgian sector) 447

132 Gldani 198 (No Georgian sector) 58 94 (No Georgian sector) 350

146 Masiv 469 321 26 165 10 816

Armenian schools in Georgia steadily losing students Gayane AVETISYAN

photos by Gayane Avetisyan

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BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 9

Beginning this academic year, stu-

dents applying for a master’s degree

in Georgian universities might have

to take two examinations, instead of

one. Students who score at the top

of the list for both exams will get

100 percent scholarships.

According to Nodar Surguladze, deputy minister of education and sci-ence, the new procedures are still under discussion. Surguladze said the Ministry of Education and Science should announce the changes by April. But first, the new rules must pass Parliament, and the ministry has to develop the regulations and a law.

The reason for the proposed chang-es is to eliminate corruption from the current system, and ensure that only qualified students are admitted to study for master’s degrees.

“There is a question about whether some universities just accept any stu-dents, despite their knowledge. So anyone can enter, and it is kind of negotiation, because each university wants to get tuition from students. We need a clear and not corrupted system,” said Surguladze.

He said the ministry’s accreditation center indicates that there are cur-rently 4,000 master’s degree students enrolled in 60 universities that are accredited, or eligible to give diplo-mas. Twenty are state institutions and

40 are private universities.The first exam, administered by

the Ministry of Education, will be the Unified National Master Examination (UNME). It is a kind of GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) or GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), the standardized tests that are given to graduate school applicants in the west.

UNME will consist of four areas: verbal, analytical thinking, logical thinking and mathematical. Students must pass three out of four parts. And the students have to have at least 30 percent score to pass exam. After taking the general admission test, stu-dents will take a second test in the subject area where they want to study, and that exam will be administered by the individual universities.

The Ministry of Education wants to fully fund 500 to 1,000 students with scholarships.

“We need to find money for the budget. We propose to get money from government budget,” said Surguladze, adding that the ministry will decide how many scholarships it can award based on the amount of the funding from the government budget

Othar Arwadze, a student in the fourth course of law faculty in Tbilisi State University, thinks the number of students who will get scholarships is very low. But he didn’t know about UNME, or that master’s degree candi-dates will have to pass logic and math exams. He said the logic and math are

important. “If you know math, you will know

everything,” said Arwadze.“It will be hard, because we are

studying in Medical University,” said Tinatin Chikhladze, who is in the third course of the Tbilisi State Medical University. She will take UNME after a year, if the new system of master exams is adopted.

She doesn’t agree with the criteria of UNME.

“There is no need for doctors to pass logic or math exams. And by the way, we have passed an exam like this while entering undergraduate degree,” she said.

Currently, students who want to study for a master’s degree in Georgia’s universities must pass one exam in a foreign language –English, German, French, for example – and also pass another exam in the subject area where they wish to study. There is currently no generalized admission exam for master’s degree students.

UNME will be like a ticket for stu-dents, who will have a certain number of years to use the score. But those who receive scholarships must accept them immediately.

The proposed reform of master’s degree admission procedures is not universally popular.

Ketevan Gochitashvili, assistant to the dean in the Faculty of Humanities at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and a lecturer at TSU, and an expert in the education field, thinks

that creating a central examination is not the right decision.

“The education quality can be increased with good financing for pro-fessors, libraries, information technol-ogy resources and qualified lecturers. I cannot find advantages in this deci-sion. If the student is sure that he can find good job after university, he has good motivation to learn much better,” said Gochitashvili.

According to Gochitashvili, Georgian universities do not have experience with an exam like UNME. And she believes students and profes-sors are not ready. The Ministry of Education should prepare university staff and students for the exams, she said, and start the new process in a few years.

According to the new system, all state universities must participate in UNME. The question of whether pri-vate universities are required to par-ticipate has not been decided.

The UNME will be the first filter, said Revaz Vachnadze, director of the MBA Program at the European School of Management – Tbilisi (ESM).

“If we strictly object to these exams, then we can enroll students with our own examination. But after that, they will not get state diploma or certifi-cate. But If we join to UNME, the stu-dents will prefer us,” he said.

Surguladze thinks every university will join the new system

“If private universities participate, they have to take the conditions of

UNME. If they do not, they are out of the money,” he said. “More money means more students, more students mean income for the university.”

The European School of Management i is a private univer-sity. The tuition is 6,300 Euro ($8,119) for the two years. According to the Ministry of Education, the maximum education fee is 2,250 lari ($1,406) for a year in state universities.

Irene Kvachadze, chief of The Master and Doctoral Service of Tbilisi State Medical University, says that the new system could help to minimize, but not cut off, all corruption.

“There might be positive and nega-tive sides of this project. After it fin-ishes, we will decide and solve the problems. There might be problem with the timing of the examinations. If it only becomes known in June that the exams will be given in July, it will be too hard,” said Kvachadze.

Ministry Considers New Exams for Master’s StudentsMinistry of education may standardize master’s admission proceduresVusala ALIBAYLI

For the first time this year, an Azer-

baijan company is supporting Geor-

gian-Azerbaijanian students who

are studying in Tbilisi by awarding

55 academic scholarships, worth

100 lari per month to each student

for a year.

The scholarships are given by The Cultural Centre of Azerbaijanians and sponsored by a grant from Azerbaijan State Oil Company–SOCAR-Georgia for the 2008-2009 academ-ic year. Students have been chosen based on their scores on admission exams for universities, administered by the Georgian State Admission Commission.

“We want to help Georgian-Azerbaijanian youth to integrate into Georgian society and increase their role in this society. At first we try to support students who are studying in Tbilisi. They have more opportuni-ties to do it because it is the capital of the country and the main center of Georgian life,” said Fazil Hasanov, chairman of The Culture Centre of Azerbajanians.

The students, all in the first course of university this year, are from Dmanisi, Bolnisi, Marneuli, Qardabani, Kaspi, Logodekhi, Rustavi and Tbilisi.

One of the scholarship students is Mammad Mammadov, who has

dreamed since childhood of becoming an artist. When other students were reading textbooks, he was drawing pictures of writers and poets from books.

He enrolled in the university by pass-ing the test of Georgian State Admission Commission in 2008, and later learned he had won the scholarship.

“We didn’t expect it, my fam-ily was shocked, and father was very, very glad. I can’t express his happi-ness,” said Mammadov, 18, a student of Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in the first course of the Architecture faculty.

“I shall spend my scholarship for my paint, brush and anything else, I will improve my skills,” said Mammadov.

Chingiz Zeynalov, 18, a student of Tbilisi State Medical Institute, another scholarship student, is saving money

to buy a computer.“I am studying in Russian sector,

because my Georgian is not so good. There are no new books in Russian language for my specialty. So I can‘t read new books. I will find impor-tant books and information from the Internet after buying a computer,” said Zeynalov.

The Ministry of Education and Sciences of Georgia approved the scholarship programs. In addition, the ministry paid part of the tuition (1,500 lari) for 20 of the 55 students awarded the SOCAR scholarships.

A similar scholarship program is planned for 40 students during the next academic year, 2009-2010, spon-sored by Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan. The same ministry spon-sored a scholarship program for 20

students in 2007-2008 and 40 students in 2008-2009 academic years.

The Culture Centre of Azerbaijanians hopes to offer anoth-er new scholarship program for the 2009-2010 academic year.

“We are determining the list of students who will get scholarship. In this program, 100 students will get a scholarship. Now, we are looking for a sponsor for this program,” said Fazil Hasanov, chairman of The Culture Centre of Azerbaijanians.

Shovqi Mehdizadeh, counselor of

the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Georgia, said that the embassy is working with the Azerbaijani cultural center to find new sponsors for future scholarships, appealing to different agencies and companies in Azerbaijan.

Students are waiting for news about scholarships.

Orkhan Zeynalov, 17, is a student in the last course of secondary school of Kullar village in the Marneuli region. He wants to enroll in the journalism faculty of Black Sea Institute. He’s also hoping to get a scholarship.

Azerbaijan Offers Scholarships to Azeri-GeorgiansSabina AKBAROVA

The education quality can be increased with good financing for professors, libraries, information technology resources and qualified lecturers

photos by Sabina Akbarova

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT10

All of the seats in Philharmonic

Hall are taken. A 20-year-old ama-

teur singer stands on the lighted

stage, performing Liza Minnelli’s

signature song, “New York, New

York.”

She is greeted with an ovation

and wins one of the top prizes from

the jury.

Although three years have passed since that performance, singer Anano Mjavia still recalls with great emotion the night when she became a finalist in the television music contest GeoStar 2006.

Since then, Mjavia has become a professional singer who is well known throughout the country, appearing in many pop concerts in Georgia. But she’s not happy that on some occa-sions, she has to open her mouth and imitate singing, rather than giving a live performance.

“Lip-synching” — when singers pretend to be singing music that actu-ally has been pre-recorded — is not her choice, she says.

One night in January, singer and composer Roma Rtskhiladze invited Mjavia and other Georgian perform-ers to the nightclub Déjà Vu. Mjavia thought that Rtskhiladze was holding a concert.

It turned out that the singer was launching a campaign against pre-

recorded music. He offered all pop singers free accompaniment by his band, Elephant, if they would agree to give live concerts at Déjà Vu.

Mjavia was the first singer to take Rtskhiladze’s offer.

“I was so glad to have an opportu-nity to arrange live concert with the band Elephant, that I prepared my repertoire just in four days,” she said. “When the band is playing live, the whole performance is based on impro-visation. That’s very valuable experi-ence for any singer.”

Since then, live concerts have been held at Déjà Vu almost every night. Rtskhiladze said that his band will play without payment until Georgian singers all agree to stop using pre-recorded music.

Most of Georgian musicians concur that pre-recorded music must be used only in rare situations. For example, it’s ok to use lip-synching during musical video shooting or while recording a compact disk. In other cases, musi-cians should sing live, they say.

In Georgia there is no law prohibit-ing pre-recorded singing. It’s like an ethical code, which singers all over the world are trying to obey.

Rtskhiladze, 56-year-old singer and composer, dreamed about a suc-cessful singer career from his child-hood. Today he says that his dream came true.

“I can’t recall the first time I wrote a song, but I can tell you for sure that live performance was the main goal of my career since youth,” said

Rtskhiladze. He thinks that it’s a shame to use

recordings in performance in the 21st century.

“There is no excuse for these per-formers,” he added.

Rtskhiladze said that his offer is not only for famous singers. Every talent-ed beginner can perform live with the band Elephant on Déjà Vu’s stage.

“During this few weeks, I have dis-covered several novices who amazed me with their abilities. I will be happy to arrange concerts with this young people,” he said.

Dato Okitashvili, chief of the department organizing cultural events in Georgia’s Ministry of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sports, said that six years ago, he wanted to ban the use of pre-recorded music in Tbilisi’s concert halls.

“In 2003, I was the first who made an effort to prevent using pre-record-ed music at solo concerts. Lots of sing-ers were angry with me at that time,” said Okitashvili. “Nobody has the right to fool society, saying they are holding a live concert, when in reality it’s only lip-synching.”

He is glad that the problem he raised few years ago is getting atten-tion today.

Since 2004, televised singing con-tests have become popular in Georgia, as they are in other parts of the world. The programs GeoStar, Star Academy, Nutsas School and Success Formula all required contestants to sing live.

Misha Sulukhia, 20, was one of the

12 contestants of the Star Academy. The program helped him become a professional singer, he said.

“These kinds of contests are very helpful for beginning singers. We learned how to create a successful show with vocal and choreographic elements,” said Sulukhia, 20.

After Star Academy, he said, sing-ing live is not a problem for him.

Compared with the singing con-tests, Cabaret Five Stars, aired on First Channel, is a musical-entertainment show, where professional singers are invited to perform, instead of begin-ners. It is the first TV program in Georgia where professional singers perform live, with a band.

“It’s very hard to shoot the show, because we can’t make any mistakes during a live recording,” said Mamuka Megrelishvili, a composer and musical director for First Channel.

He said that besides some technical problems, live performances are the pride of Cabaret Five Stars.

“Recently I have made many unex-pected discoveries in Georgian show-business. Some singers known as stars refuse to participate in our show, because they are afraid that their flaws will be revealed. On the other hand, some singers that I thought didn’t have any talent came to Cabaret Five Stars and amazed me with their per-formances,” said Megrelishvili.

Anri Jokhadze, 28, was one of those who surprised First Channel’s musical director with his singing. He had participated in a few international

song contests, and said that perform-ing live is not hard for him, but there is a problem finding a good orchestra.

“I want to sing live, but today we have orchestras with out-of-tune instruments. After graduating from the State Conservatory, musicians cannot find employment. So in order to earn money, they perform in res-taurants. None of the musical projects are financially supported by the gov-ernment,” said Jokhadze.

“Unfortunately, I can’t promise my listeners that I would not use pre-recorded music any more. I am a realist and I know that arranging a concert with the support of a live band is a great luxury,” said the singer Nukri Kapanadze.

She was happy to hear Rtskhiladze’s proposal about arranging live concerts at Déjà Vu and said that she would take part as soon as possible.

The management of Déjà Vu is also happy that Rtskhiladze and his band Elephant chose the club to present live concerts. Mzia Dolidze, the club man-ager, said customers are interested in the concerts.

“Lot of people call during the day and ask who is performing in the eve-ning. I think the idea of live music has attracted many clients,” said Dolidze.

To enter the club during a concert, one must pay 20 lari. According to Dolidze, approximately 120 visitors can be accommodated in the club.

“Since we have had the live con-certs, almost all the seats are occupied every night,” she said.

Georgian Singers Strike Against Lip-synchingSinger Roma Rtskhiladze and the band Elephant launch campaign against pre-recorded music Natalie NOZADZE

16-YEAR-OLD ILIA KOBAKHIDZE does not like the song, but he feels that the song has one big advantage and somehow has ful-fi lled its purpose: it is already the topic of discussion at forums and the whole world will hear Georgia’s point of view. “Even if Stephane and 3G will not be able to partic-ipate in Evrovision 2009, everybody knows the words: we do not want to put in

NIKA KOKHREIDZE IS A 16-YEAR-OLD pupil. He does not like the winning song and thinks that Keti Orjonikidze, who took second place, was better. “Georgia should not be represented at Eurovision song contest with a political song,” says Kokhreidze.

SOPIKO KAPANADZE, A 15-YEAR-OLD pupil, thinks that Georgia defi nitely should par-ticipate in the Eurovision song contest, though she says that Stephane and 3G have no chance to win. In her opinion, this is an ordinary song contest, where political issues should not be involved. “It would be better to represent some-thing entertaining,” says Kapanadze. 20-year-old David Chigolashvili is a student at the University of Georgia. He thinks that this song is not good music. He says that when a person is presenting a song from his or her country on contests like Eurovision, that song is an image of that

country. Chigolashvili does not like the song especially because it has become an issue of dispute because of its contro-versial lyrics, ‘’which I think is not ethical to do,’’ says Chigolashvili. He thinks that a message from Georgia to Europe con-cerning the confl ict with Russia should be a song about peace, ‘’because that is what we should be seeking for,’’ he says.

DATO SIKRMASHVILI, 23, is a Credit Admin-istrator at KOR Standard Bank. He also plays the guitar in a band. He does not think that Georgia should participate in the song contest like Eurovision, because he thinks Eurovision is a contest of taste-less music. He does not like the chosen song, because he says it is designed to provoke. “Culture must not interfere in politics,” he says. Sikrmashvili thinks that Georgia should go to Moscow with a peaceful message addressing ordinary people, not the Russian politicians.

23-YEAR-OLD NINO GELASHVILI is a student. She likes Stephane and 3G’s song. Gelashvili thinks that song is melodious, rhythmical and it expresses the Georgians’ protest to-ward Russia’s aggression. Th e decision to take part in the Eurovision song contest in Moscow seems right to her. “We will prove to Russia that we are not as weak as

they think,” says Gelashvili. She believes that the song lyrics contain the message of all Georgia. “I hope that the Europeans will support us in the contest, as they did during the Russian-Georgian war.”

24-YEAR-OLD TAMAR BAGATURIA is a fi nancial manager. She thinks that in contests like Eurovision, the most important thing is to perform well and not to strain relations among the countries. She does not think that it is good manners to insult the host country. ’’It is not good to do everything for revenge,’’ says Bagaturia. She does not like the song itself and is concerned that this song was not written for the Eurovi-sion contest. ”We have seen and heard the same melody at the New Year concert, with a Georgian text only,’’ says Bagaturia. In her opinion, Georgia’s message in this contest should be that Georgians are civil and peaceful people.

VADIM AVERIN, 33, says this song is not something new. He remembers a Ukrai-nian participant, Verka Serduchka, at Eu-rovision 2008 with the song “Good Buy Russia.“ Averin is worried about the result of the song, taking into consideration Russia’s relationship with Ukraine after that song. He thinks that Georgia should sing about love.

GIA JAKHAIA, 33, an economist at Silk Road in Georgia and a lecturer at Sukhumi State University, is ashamed of the song. “Nobody will react positively on the song where we insult the host country’s presi-dent,” says Jakhaia. Besides, he does not like the song itself. Jakhaia adds that ev-erybody in the world knows that Geor-gian people can sing really beautifully, so Georgians should have shown what they really can do.

MERAB MAKHAROBLISHVILI, 41, is a painter. He does not approve of Georgia’s par-

ticipation in Eurovision, which will take place in Moscow in May. Makharoblish-vili thinks that in this situation, Georgians participation in the song contest will not send a good message. He does not like the winning song. Makharoblishvili thinks that there were better candidates who could represent Georgia at Eurovision.

TEMUR LIABODZE, 45, is a guard in a car park in Tbilisi. He says Georgia should take part in Eurovision Song Contest 2009, as a song contest is the best way for tal-ented Georgian singers to become widely known. Liabodze says he likes the selected song because of its political context. “Th e Georgian message at Eurovision 2009 should be our protest towards Russia,” says Liabodze.

45-YEAR-OLD GIULI PAPIASHVILI, a fl ower seller, couldn’t fi nd a reason that Georgia should participate in the Eurovision song contest, or even consider the question. “Now, our life is not going well, we have a lot of problems at work, at home. I can’t fi nd money, medicine, bread. How can I speak about the Eurovision Contest?” she asked. But she thinks if Georgia is going to take part in the contest, then the mes-sage should be freedom.

VAQIF HASANOV, 65, a director of Azerbai-jan–Tbilisi Drama Th eater, thinks that Georgia should participate in the Eurovi-sion Music Contest for prestige. “Georgia is a multinational country and includes a lot of cultural traditions itself. Th at’s why taking part in such kind of contest, is normal, ” he says. Talking about Geor-gia’s current situation, Hasanov said that, despite diffi culties and problems in the Georgian economy, Georgia never gives up its progress in the cultural fi eld. But Hasanov said actually he is not interested in Eurovision, that’s why he does not know who represents Georgia at the contest.

What do you think about the satirical song about Putin,

“We Don’t Want to Put In,” that the Georgian

group Stephane and 3G are going to pres-ent in the Eurovision

song contest?

What do you think the message from Geor-gia should be in this

contest?

photos by Leli Blagonravova

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 11

Why music contests became so

popular in Georgia, when show

business practically does not exist.

What should be done to improve the

situation in show business.

After he won the TV music con-test Star Academy last year, nothing changed in the career of 20-year-old singer Dito Lagvilava.

He entered the competition to test his ability to prepare performances in a short period of time and sing live on television.

He wanted to do his best and he did, winning out over 13 other com-petitors on a nationwide television show with a large audience. His prize for winning the contest was a car and an apartment in Tbilisi. He hoped that if he won, promoters would give him the chance to record songs and pres-ent concerts.

“My dreams about recording songs and holding concerts did not come true,” said Lagvilava.

He did use his own money to record a song, but he could not promote the recording.

“Although these contests help young, inexperienced singers to grow up as a real singer, after finishing the contests, nothing new happens. You have no chance to realize yourself as a singer,” said Lagvilava.

Practically no CDs are recorded and few concerts are held in Georgia. There are few music producers, record labels or concert promoters today, because it’s an expensive business with no guarantee of return. So the music business in Georgia is small and unde-veloped.

Marina Beridze, a musical produc-er, thinks that poor quality, bad taste and unprofessional singers, who lip-synch to recordings, have prevented the music business from developing here.

“After about 2004, when listen-ers understood that practically all Georgian singers were performing to recorded music, they lost interest in singers and their songs, business-men stopped financing and producers stopped promoting in this field,” she said. But since 2004, televised music competitions have become popular in Georgia, as they are elsewhere in the world.

The first music contest, Nutsa’s School, was broadcast on TV Imedi in 2004. In The same year, TV Company Mze produced music contest Geostar, which since 2007 has been produced annually by Rustavi-2.

Last year Rustavi 2 added another music competition, Star Academy. Rustavi 2 also presents the children’s music contest Ana-Bana.

According to AGB Nielsen Media Research Company, which tracks television viewership, Star Academy attracted a 20.43 share of the televi-sion audience, meaning that 20.43 per-cent of all those watching television during that time period were tuned to Star Academy.

Despite the drawbacks of trying to make a living as a singer, many young singers see televised music contests as a way to launch a career.

For Star Academy 2, which started in March 2009, the jury auditioned 8,000 singers, and selected 14.

“We listened to 8,000 people wish-

ing to enter the show. It was really exhausting. For about a week we had the first tour and selected 50 of them for the second tour, now we have already selected these 14, who will participate in the Star Academy 2. All of them have good potential to be good singers,” said Manana Morchiladze, a member of the Star Academy jury.

Nato Metonidze, a well-known singer of Georgian songs, says that it is impossible to earn a living as a music performer. She receives some income by teaching singing to children.

“The market for singers is not big enough to absorb all the contestants from the television music competi-tions. I don’t see any logic to produc-ing so many music contests when show business practically is dead in Georgia,” she said, adding, “I don’t mean the projects which are qualified and which really care about real pro-fessional growth of contestants and their tastes, for example, Geostar.”

She thinks that those who produce music contests should be concerned about contestants not only during the program, but afterward.” With the help of producers and producing cen-ters, contestants should continue their professional development even after finishing these contests, only in this case they will have more chances to develop,” she said.

Marina Beridze, who is musical producer for both Geostar and Star Academy, said the job of those who produce music contests is to help the contestants during the program. After that, it’s up to independent produc-ers.

“We take the responsibility to pre-pare good singers during the projects. After finishing them they should con-tinue their career with independent producers. Our projects prepare a basis and hope that will be a stimulus for establishing music producing cen-ters,” she said.

Keti Ordjonikidze, a finalist in Star Academy, also has had no professional

opportunities to perform or record since the contest ended. Now she wants to try to make her career abroad. As a prize for being a finalist, Rustavi 2 sent her to London in July 2008. She studied there for two months at the University of Contemporary Music Performance.

“It was really very good experi-ence for me. Every day I had classes in rock vocal, pop vocal, I had also piano classes and music literature. This diversity was really interesting for me, it was great,” she said.

She thinks that if contestants pre-pare well and work hard during the TV competitions, they will have a chance to go abroad and sing in the

European market. “The only way for young singers

today is to go abroad,” she said.Step Records is an independent

musical label established in 2005. The goal of people working there is to promote young and talented singers in Georgia as well as abroad.

Achiko Guledani, art director of Step Records, named several reasons why the music business is undevel-oped in Georgia.

“The main reason is that the music business is really expensive,” he said.

He often watches TV music con-tests and thinks that the quality of Georgian song contests has improved since 2004 when they began.

“Contestants are being really well-trained, but unfortunately at this time after finishing the competition, the best way for young singers to succeed is to send them abroad,” he said.

He thinks that the only way to improve show business in Georgia is to establish many independent record-ing labels that will promote singers.

“These labels should work on pro-motion of new and talented singers. Some of them should be sold here, some of them abroad, according to their musical directions,” he said.

However, the winner of Geostar 2008, Giorgi Sukhitashvili, 23, does not want to live and work abroad right now.

He is a jazz singer with a live band in the Tbilisi club Marjanov Express once a week. He continues looking for other places to sing.

His goal in entering Geostar last year was to show his talent to the people who later could help him to develop his career and find a job.

“When you became popular, you have more offers from the bars and clubs, which at this moment are the only income for me. Singing is not only my hobby, it is my profession,” he said.

After Sukhitashvili won the con-test, he had new offers from different clubs. Geocell, permanent sponsor of song contest Geostar, financed him and he’s currently recording a CD and is planning to shoot a video. He thinks that at this time in Georgia, television music contests are the only way to get ahead as a professional singer.

Beridze, the musical producer, believes that TV music contests are the best way to develop young singers and get them used to singing live.

“We have already discovered many gifted young singers. I am sure these projects will raise their number. Now it is time for businessmen to wake up and finance really talented young sing-ers,” she said.

Ketevan EBANOIDZE

Music Business Lags in Georgia

Singers win contests, but find careers elusive

Keti Ordjoniokidze rehearsals for Star Academy. photo from archive

Giorgi Sukhitashvili performing at GeoStar 2008. photo from archive

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT12

Tbilisi’s garbage bunkers — the

large waste disposal method used

in many tall apartment buildings

— are soon to become a relic of the

past.

Tbilisi City Hall is in the midst of a campaign to eliminate the bun-kers and replace them with new trash receptacles in the streets. Fifty garbage bunkers have already been eliminated in the districts of Gldani-Nadzaladevi, Vake-Saburtalo and Isani-Samgori and replaced by 450 containers.

The bunkers are considered unsan-itary and a health hazard, according to Tariel Khizaneishvili, of the city’s Municipal Department of Cleaning.

The bunkers attracts rats, he said, because garbage sits for days await-ing collection. In addition the garbage method is unsightly and affects public morale, he said.

“Because of full garbage bunkers in the buildings, garbage then is placed elsewhere in the building. That’s why we decided to start this project,” said Khizanishvili

The garbage bunker replacement project was undertaken because city residents wanted it, according to Khizanishvili.

The whole budget for the bun-ker elimination program is 200, 000 lari, which is the cost of the out-door containers that replace the bun-kers. Tbilisi City Hall paid 900 lari for each container. The containers were imported from Germany, two months ago, said Khizaneishvili.

A month ago, Tbilisi City Hall start-ed airing a television advertisement about the effort to eliminate bunkers, to encourage apartment dwellers to support the program

Khizaneishvili conceded that many people find it convenient to open a door on the floor where they live and drop the garbage down to the bunker. But the method leads the dirty hall-ways, unpleasant smells and even the risk of infections.

Irina Botsvadze, 40, lives in Saburtalo. She said that it was much more comfortable to open a door on her floor and send the garbage down through a building shaft to the bunker,

especially in buildings that do not have lifts.

“Now I have to go down two or three times a day to drop the garbage in the container,” she said.

But Khizaneishvili said that “ I cannot see any argument not to abol-ish these garbage bunkers. For me, the argument about convenience is obscure.”

Ketevan Abdushelishvili is chief of the bunker elimination program. She said that residents of each apartment building must agree that the bunkers should be eliminated. The agreement

goes to the Municipal Department of Cleaning, which then eliminates the bunkers.

Workers at first cleaning bunkers and the whole entrance of the build-ing, then they close and seal up the doors of the garbage deposit shafts on each floor and also seal the bunker. Then they use special disinfections on the building and in the bunkers in order to eliminate any unpleasant smells. Then they place new outdoor garbage containers near the building.

Tbilisi has 30 special motorized machines that perform the task of ,

emptying the containers on the streets and cleaning up grassy areas. There are 6,300 containers in the city and 2,500 litter receptacles that the clean-ers must empty.

Tamuna Chumburidze,36, lives in Temka. She thinks that the bunker elimination program won’t solve the garbage problem.

“I know Georgian people, they will throw down the garbage from the window of the fifth floor. People will be lazy to take the garbage down in the garbage container,” she said.

But Tariel Khizaneishvili, from

the city’s Municipal Department of Cleaning, said that anyone who throws garbage in the yard will be punished and fined 200 lari.

“ Every person goes out every day and they need just to take garbage and drop it in the garbage container. It’s very easy, ” he said.

Nino Asatiani, an infectious dis-ease doctor who works at the third Clinic of Family, agrees that disposing of garbage improperly poses a public health hazard.

“ I welcome this project, I’m sure that this project will solve the prob-lem and the home of infections will be abolished,” she said.

Lela Janashia the head of the Information and Public Participation Program for The Regional Environmental Center for the Caucasus (REC Caucasus), an NGO, said that the city’s project is timely, because the problem of garbage dis-posal is acute in city buildings. But she also thinks the city needs to be more vigilant about emptying the garbage containers, or Dumpsters, that line city streets.

Eteri Khvichia, a resident of Didube, said, residents in her building agreed to have the garbage bunker removed four years ago because of the terrible smell and the way the garbage attract-ed rats and stray dogs.

The situation in the main entrance of the building was horrible, she said. But at that time, city didn’t have its project, so residents paid for the removal of the bunker themselves, she said.

According to Khizaneishvili, Georgia’s Ministry of Environmental and Natural Resource Protection, also is involved in this project. They will plant trees near containers.

City Struggles to Control GarbageGvantsa BARBAKADZE Every person

goes out every day and they need just to take garbage and drop it in the garbage container. It’s very easy

photos by Gvantsa Barbakadze

News BriefU.S. ESSAYS PUBLISHED IN GEORGIAThe Federalist Papers, translated for the first

time into Georgian, was presented on January 22 in the U.S. Embassy. The book contains 85 political essays of the Founding Fathers of the United States, including Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Grigol Robakidze University published the project, cooperating with the U.S embassy.

“The main goal to publish this book was to bolster relationships between Georgia and the U.S.,” said Giorgi Baramidze, scientific super-visor and chairman of the editorial board. “Intellectual collaboration is one of means for building such kind of relations... The book puts

in plain words the meaning of state, judiciary and the philosophy of politics.”

The students of Grigol Robakidze University contributed to the project. The presentation of the book coincided two dates, the inauguration of Barack Obama, the president of the U.S. and Martin Luther King’s 80th anniversary.

John Tefft, the U.S Ambassador to Georgia, also attended the presentation. “The Papers explained not only the Constitution itself, but examined in some detail the philosophy behind each part of it,”the ambassador said.

The Federalist Papers is recommended as reading material for university students as well as for others s interested in this field.

GIPA graduates’ research papers about local financial reforms in Georgia were published as a book on February 5. German Technical Cooperation - GTZ initiated and financed the publication.

Eka Saneblidze and Otar Kikvidze,graduates of Local Government Master’s Program, con-ducted the research for their final projects. Sanablidze’s project describes local financial reform in Georgia and its problems, while Kikvidze examines the results of the reforms. Local finances are among the topics the German Cooperation GTZ works on. The organization supported the publication of the papers, con-

sidered as the two best final projects of 2008 graduates.

Professor David Narmania supervised the students’ research. Representative of GTZ Kate Vardiashvili also attended the book presentation at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, which is a preferred partner for the organization.

CLUB ERUDITIHOSTS GUEST SPEAKERPossible socio-cultural links betweenGeorgian

and Spanish people was the topic of a meeting with Georgian writer, Dato Turashvili, The con-vention, arranged through the club Eruditi, was held at GIPA on February 26, Besides the main

NewsBrief...NewsBrief...NewsBrief...GIPA

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 13

Five-year old Luka has spastic palsy

(quadriplegia) and is unable to walk.

He lives with his mother and grand-

parents. In the Iashvili Children’s

Hospital, doctors told Luka’s mother

that there was a chance for Luka to

improve his condition with surgery.

But the Insurance Company, Irao, refused to finance the operation, because the outcome was question-able. So Nino, Luka’s mother, applied for help to the Health Insurance Mediation Service (HIMS), a private NGO that attempts to resolve disputes between clients and insurance compa-nies. The mediator studied the case, and had intensive meetings with Irao’s representatives.

The insurance company decided to finance Luka’s surgery in November 2008. Now Luka is beginning to be able to walk.

Health Insurance Mediation Service, part of the Georgian Insurance Association, tries to settle misunder-standings and disagreements between the clients and insurance companies, avoiding court.

Anybody who has health insurance can call 555-115 and get consultations and assistance for free, according to Archil Tsertsvadze, head and media-tor of the Health Insurance Mediation Service.

The organization was established on the initiative of the Georgian Insurance Association, with the help of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, and with the support of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) project Co-Reform, in March 2008.

In 2007 the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia started a state insurance program for the socially unprotected population, as well as for teachers, armed forces and public officials.

The Georgian government sees the private health insurance system as the major method for financing health care in the future. In 2009, two-thirds of the population will have health insurance.

“During the year of 2009, the state

will insure another 900,000 citizens,” said Sopho Lebanidze, head of the Health Care Department at The Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.

The organization serves citizens insured by the State health insurance programs, as well as by the private sec-tor insurance companies, either indi-vidually or in corporate (employee) groups.

The Health Insurance Mediation Service is located under the N. Baratashvili bridge on the left bank of the Mtkvari River. A mediator, three health insurance specialists, a law-yer, an administrator, an IT specialist and a database and reporting manager make up the staff of the organization.

Lela Serebryakova, Health Insurance Regulation Program Manager at CoReform, praised the staff of the mediation service.

“These are people who not only thoroughly understand health insur-ance, but also they care,’’ she said.

The mediation service’s goal is not only to resolve disputes, but also to inform consumers who have health insurance.

“People have a serious deficit of information in this field. A person may think that he or she deserves a benefit, and in reality does not. Or just on the contrary, deserves it, but does not know about it. Besides resolving the disagreements, the main function of this organization is giving more infor-mation to health insured citizens,” said Tsertsvadze.

The job of the mediator is to be objective, professional and impartial.

“In the process of making a deci-sion, the mediator is absolutely auton-omous. The board of the Georgian Insurance Association does not interfere,” said Devi khechinashvili, President of the Georgian Insurance Association.

There are three categories of applications in the Health Insurance Mediation Service:

1Forwarding: When the applica-tion is out of the mediation’s competence. For example, if an

insured person applies directly to the Health Insurance Mediation Service, without applying first to the company or ministry, the mediator asks the person to apply to the other depart-

ments first.

2 Explanations: The organization gives information to the insured person and gives direction on

what to do next.

3Disagreements: The Health Insurance Mediation Service studies the documents, the case,

and after that comes to a conclusion, and tries to resolve the disagreement.

“We have to discuss 20-25 applica-tions every day. Most of them are of the first and second categories,’’ said Lia Memarnishvili, a health insurance specialist at mediation service.

According to an agreement with insurance companies, the mediation service can tell the company to carry out certain obligations, when the dis-pute involves less than 1,000 lari.

“But if the sum is higher, then the mediation service’s conclusion is a recommendation [not an order],” said Tsertsvadze.

According to the documents, from May to November 2008, 1,332 people applied to the mediation service. From September to November, cases were resolved in favor of the insured con-sumers 51 times in disputes and 21 cases in explanations. The resolutions were valued at 82,950 lari ($51,800). During the same period, cases resolved

in favor of the insurance companies amounted to 201 in the explanation category, and 1 in the dispute cat-egory, with the total value of the cases put at 108,200 lari ($67,000).

“In the second category, explana-tions, the insurance companies turned out to be right more often, because people are less informed about their insurance terms and procedures, or what they can expect the insur-ance company to pay for” said Nino

Zhorzholadze, database and report-ing manager at the Health Insurance Mediation Service.

The relationship with insurance companies has been positive, both sides say.

‘’They are not biased, we trust them and of course take their recommenda-tions into consideration,” said Khatuna Silagadze, Social Programs Manager for GPI Holding.

Mediator Tries to Resolve Health Insurance Conflicts

Sophio EBRALIDZE

MonthReceived

profit

Applications in GEL

Second Category Explanations Third Category Disputes

Quantity Sum Quantity Sum

SeptemberEnsured person 4 3 500 14 13 150

Insurance Company 75 35 000

OctoberEnsured person 5 4 000 24 38 000

Insurance Company 66 33 850 - -

NovemberEnsured person 4 2 500 12 11 8000

Insurance Company 60 30 350 1 9 000

TotallyEnsured person 21 10 000 51 62 950

Insurance Company 201 99 200 1 9 000

67.6%

8.1%

24.3%

First Category

Second Category

Third Category

New health insurance mediation service tackles disputes between clients to avoid court

subject, the invited speaker also talked about current issues taking place in Georgia.

STUDENTS MEET NIKOLOZ RURUA Nikoloz Rurua, the Minister of Culture,

Monuments Protection and Sport, spoke about the functions and top priorities of the Ministry in a talk students of the School of Government at GIPA on March 4. Answering students’ ques-tions, the Minister also discussed issues con-nected with the protection of Georgia’s cultural heritage.

The Georgian Institute of Russian Studies pub-lished new research about the possible aggrava-tion of Georgia-Russian relationships. The head

of the organization, Nikoloz Vashakidze, said that in the wake of the August war, Russia has been suffering from the sense of “unfinished affair,” which questions Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. According to Vashakidze, who is Georgia’s former deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the current economic slow-down in Russia could prompt another assault on Georgian territory.

“Russia will need to shift people’s attention to outer problems,” he says. “The country which emerged in economic slowdown is to seek new ways to victory. The war is the best method to overshadow political crisis and maintain author-ity.”

Vashakidze says that Russia’s proposal to keep OSCE missions separately under independent status in South Ossetia and Georgia is meaning-

less. On the other hand, if the Georgian govern-ment rebuffs that suggestion, it might place the country in a difficult situation.

“Any military provocation may take place in a conflict zone without monitoring,” he said. “It will make difficult to identify the initiator and aggressor on the territory left out of control.”

The Georgian Institute of Russian Studies was established with the support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation initial funding on January 18.

The founders of the NGO said that the Russian hostilities in Georgia in August 2008 demon-strated the need for such a research body.

GIPA AWARDS NEW GRADUATES WITH CERTIFICATESThe Georgian Institute of Public Affairs host-

ed the graduation ceremony for the certified coursesPublic Finances and Financial Accounting. Should this be employees ofthe Ministry of Internal Affairs were awarded certificates.

The School of Government at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs provided courses, specif-ically created for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The course aimed to train the staff of the Ministry, and to introduce and increase aware-ness of new methods and trends pertaining to the legislation, financial and budgeting account-ing. Through the courses, leading specialists of the Institute, as well as invited experts, con-ducted the lectures.

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT14

A change in rules for the annual

Georgian Women’s Chess Champi-

onships led to protests from some

of the country’s best players, who

boycotted the tournament to draw

attention to their objections.

Even though the tournament, ended in December at the Tbilisi Chess Palace, is now over, the dispute between chess players and the leader-ship of the Georgian Chess Federation continues.

Gia Giorgadze, president of Georgian Chess Federation, said that nothing illegal was done in changes made to this year’s tournament rules, and that all players should abide by the changes. But one of the protesting chess players, Nino Batsiashvili, who is International Chess Grand Master among women, said that the rules that prompted the protest had major problems.

According to the usual rules for the annual tournament — the country’s most prestigious — Georgia’s top six players are automatically admitted to the tournament, in which there are a total of 12 participants. The other six players, according to the old rules, were selected from a special tourna-ment held in advance of the champi-onship.

But this year, the leadership of the Georgian Chess Federation decided that eight players instead of six would be automatically admitted to the tour-nament, and only four players would be selected during the preliminary competition.

Some of the players who were not admitted automatically to the tourna-ment protested the change in rules. These included Batsiashvili, Bela Khotenashvili, Alexandra Vakhania, Inga Charkhalashvili and Maka Purtseladze. Some other players who had been planning to participate in the preliminary tournament joined the protestors.

The protesting players approached

Giorgadze and asked him to change the rules so that six competitors, not four, would be chosen from the pre-liminary round.

“But he did not listen to us and said that he makes rules there, and if we do not agree with them we are able not to play. He even slammed his fists on the table and shouted,” said Batsiashvili.

The protesting players also object-ed to the choice of certain of the play-ers who were admitted automatically.

Khotenashvili cited Nazi Paikidze, who is the world and European cham-pion under 16, and Miranda Mikadze, who is the Georgian champion under 20.

Khotenashvili said that she and other chess players had held those titles at one time, but they were never allowed to participate in the annual championship and they had to com-pete in the lower tournament instead of being admitted automatically.

Khotenashvili, Batsiashvili and Purtseladze declared that, although they rank higher in international rat-

ings than Paikidze and Mikadze, their names were not even discussed as players who would be automatically admitted to the grand championship.

Every year about 30 players take part in that preliminary tournament. This year, federation had to conduct the tournament with only 12 players, because so many players refused to participate.

Maka Purtseladze, International Master among women, said the tournament was in danger of being canceled, because after the protest, only seven women wanted to play. Purtseladze said that to raise the num-ber of participants, some players were unfairly admitted to the competition.

Chess players wrote a letter of pro-test and sent it to the Sport Department of Tbilisi. The department answered with a letter to Batsiashvili, saying that they had studied the case and accord-ing to the rules of federation, the pro-testors’ complaint was not valid.

Giorgadze, the federation presi-dent, said that he met and tried to

reach an agreement with the protest-ing chess players, but they did not want to compromise. He also denied that he slammed his hand on the desk or shouted during negotiations

Giorgadze said that to make sure the preliminary tournament could be held, they invited some other play-ers to participate, but he said no one played illegally.

“Despite the fact that the stron-gest players declined to play and the membership of tournament was quite weak, the main point is that everyone should respect the law and it must not change because of someone’s obsti-nacy,” he said.

Zurab Azmaiparashvili, a member of the federation administration, said that only the federation president is allowed to change the rules, and that the protests of chess players are not a reason to change the rules. Nona Gaprindashvili, also an administration member, said that the problem should not be solved for the chess players profit.

“Sporting principles should not be abolished. Making complaints and ultimatums is not the right way, ”Gaprindashvili said.

However, the federation changed the rules again after the preliminary tournament. The Georgian chess championship is the most important tournament in the country, where the strongest players always take part. Admitting four participants from 12 low-ranked players would weaken the championship, so the federation decided to admit only two from the preliminary tournament.

These were Keti Tsatsalashvili, with

a 2231 rating and Mery Arabidze with a 2246 rating. In chess, the quality of players is determined by their ratings. A rating of at least 2300 is required for the Chess Grand Master’s title.

Other participants of the tourna-ment had ratings of more then 2350, and all of them are International Grand Masters. Tsatsalashvili is an International Master and Arabidze does not have the title. They have to raise their ratings to become Grand Masters, the most prestigious and highest title in chess.

So, two places at the Georgian championship were vacant, and the federation suggested to players who had the highest ratings that they should play in the championship

But Nino Batsiashvili, whose rat-ing is 2359, and Bela Khotenashvili, whose rating is 2350, refused again to participate.

“It is the question of self-respect. They need us to strengthen the tour-nament, because it is their fault that they are conducting the main country competition with such weak competi-tion. We will not support them with our consent,” said Batsiashvili.

Finally, the vacant places were filled with the third and fourth prizewinners of the preliminary tournament.

Those participants are good play-ers for their age, but “they are young yet for such kind of championship,” said Batsiashvili.

The average age of those chess players who participated at Georgian chess championship this year was 23, one of the youngest average ages of any championship held in Georgia.

New Chess Rules Rile PlayersTop chessplayers do not hypenate this boycot main country championship in protestIa GAVASHELI

BSJCAUCASUS SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT 15

Mirze Sefi Street, high on the hill in

Old Tbilisi, was once home to Azer-

baijani and Georgians. But now the

street is empty and there are no resi-

dents.

Houses on this street were in dis-repair, and Tbilisi City Hall decided they should be removed. A Georgian Construction company, Apollo, bought 14 houses on the street and destroyed them in December planning to build a $100 million business complex on the property.

Now only heavy machines are working in the street, cleaning the rubbish left over from the destroyed buildings.

One of those buildings housed the museum of the Azerbaijani revo-lutionary, writer, publicist, politician and statesman Nariman Narimanov.

Nariman Narimanov’s museum become the property of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Republic in 2007, after it was priva-tized, said Adil Efendiyev, the first sec-retary of Ambassador of Azerbaijan Republic to Georgia.

Inga Kaya, the main specialist of Ministry of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sport of Georgia, says that Georgia and Azerbaijan have reached agreement on rebuild-ing the house-museum of Nariman Narimanov on Mirze Sefi Street. She says agreement was signed January this year between cultural ministers of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the mayor of Tbilisi City Hall, and the head of Apollo Construction Company.

“The house-museum of Nariman Narimanov was in bad condition before it was destroyed. For almost two years, the museum was not work-ing because of its bad situation,” said Kaya.

Kaya said the agreement calls for all construction expenses of the museum to be paid by Apollo, which will build the business complex on Mirze Sefi Street. Once the museum building is completed, it will again become the property of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of the Azerbaijani Republic.

Nino Kordzakhia, head of the Monitoring and Supervision Department of Old Tbilisi District Council, confirmed the details of the agreement. But she said Tbilisi City Hall has not yet approved construc-tion models for the business complex.

“The suggested construction mod-els were against the architectural style of old Tbilisi. That’s why Tbilisi City Hall suggested that they rework con-struction models,” said Kordzakhia.

The new business complex on Mirze Sefi Street will cover 20,000 square meters and will cost Apollo $100 million, said Tea Sturua, the project manager of Apollo. But she said at the moment it’s difficult for them to say how much money exactly will be spent on the building museum dedicated to Nariman Narimanov.

“We are going to invite Azeri archi-tects also to take part in the construc-tion of museum. When we will start

building the museum, then we can say how much money we will spend on it,” Sturua said.

Sturua added that they have found one old Azeri architect’s construction style in Tbilisi and they will use this style to build the museum. Apollo plans to start construction in the mid-dle of March this year. Sturua said museum will consist of two stories and will be completed in two years.

Before the houses were destroyed, the exhibits in the museum were moved to another Azerbaijani muse-um, named after Mirze Feteli Axundov, on Gorgasali Street, near Old Tbilisi. Books and other personal possessions of Nariman Narimanov are kept in the corridor of the museum. Most of the other exhibits are in closed boxes.

Narimanov was born in a poor Azerbaijani family in Tbilisi in 1870. His childhood and youth were spent in Georgia. Narimanov was the first head of state and government of The Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) and also held other high posi-tions in the administration of USSR from 1920-1925.

He was one of the first activists of young Turkic literature. He trans-lated into Turkic Russian Gogol’s “Inspector” and wrote a large number of plays, stories and novels.

Narimanov died in Moscow at age 55, under suspicious circumstances.

He was officially declared to have died of a heart attack, but his remains were cremated. His ashes were buried in Kremlin Wall Necropolis, which is a

part of The Kremlin Wall in Moscow overlooking the Red Square, where the Soviet governments buried many prominent local and international Communist figures.

Leyla Aliyeva, 61, is a director of Azerbaijan Cultural Museums named after Mirze Feteli Axundov, Celil Memmedquluzade and Nariman Narimanov in Tbilisi. She says these museums were the houses of the peo-ple whose life also related to Tbilisi.

They were established after the visit of Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev to Tbilisi in 1996.

Aliyeva, opened one of the closed boxes and took out a personal belong-ing of Narimanov — a wooden candle-stick, and began cleaning it.

“There’s no place to exhibit [his items] in this museum,” she said. “When destroyed museum will be rebuilt again, then we will have chanc-es to open all these exhibits there.”

Contractor to Build Azeri Museum on Old Site$ 100 million business complex in Old Tbilisi will include museum devoted to Azerbaijani revolutionaryZaka GULUYEV

When destroyed museum will be rebuilt again, then we will have chances to open all these exhibits there.

photo by Zaka Guluyev

photo from Geornian National Museum archive

w w w . b s j . g e BROSSESTREETJOURNAL

More then 15 000 pieces of communion bread are baked in a week for liturgies of Sameba Lavra. Often the baked com-munion bread is sent to various episcopacies of Georgia and outside the country.

Students of the Ecclesiastical Academy of Georgia cut the dough, put them in special pans and then bake into the hot stove. The dough is stamped with specially imprinted por-trayals of Jesus Christ and the Virgin.

When the liturgy is over, all the prayers get the communion bread in church.

Photo essay by Malkhaz Chkadua