Problems are being created for youth educational centers in the regions
For years, the activities of youth organizations operating in the regions of Georgia have been under threat. Some of them are gradually ceasing to operate, while others are trying to cope with the problems artificially created for them.
The history of such organizations began with the fact that they occupied abandoned buildings in their municipalities – cleaned them, renovated them and created centers of informal education.
These organizations often did more for local youth than schools in villages and towns. They created libraries of modern books, organized discussions, film screenings and language courses. They also prepared young people for national exams.
The centers were most valuable for those children who, due to their social situation, could not actively attend the municipal center or so-called tutors.
The centers everywhere had different forms of work, some were called community centers and others were social enterprises. All of them were united by the goal of caring for local youth.
Such centers were not so long ago a point of pride for local self-government bodies. They actively took foreign guests to see them and were proud of the existence of such a place in the municipality.
After the adoption of the “Russian law”, regional-local educational centers, instead of supporting them, encountered obstacles.
Some municipalities, one after another, do not extend documents for the use of buildings to organizations and require them to vacate the facility.
Such letters were received in Kvemo Kartli, both in the Shaumiani center and in the Tetritskaro youth center.
Today, the newest post on the Tetritskaro center’s page on social media is dated September 25.
The post reports on the problem:
“It hurts our hearts to share this news with you – our beloved Tetritskaro youth center is in danger! As you know, the history of the Tetritskaro Youth Center began with the idea of creating a space in the municipality where young people and the local population would have an environment to interact, learn about the news, have fun, and care for the municipality and its development together. For this very purpose, in 2018, we approached the City Hall and handed over this building to us with a 2-year usufruct (free use), the agreement was renewed every two years. From 2018 to the present, with your help, we have turned the place where it was possible for young people to gather in a safe space and care for their development into the heart of the municipality. But now… the municipality asks us to vacate the building by October 3 and stop caring for young people. Do you remember what this building looked like at first? How much work and love did we put into it? How much municipal resources and how much donor organization funds were spent? And how many young people’s hopes for development have been connected to this place? We don’t know what the next step will be” – Tetritskaro Youth Center.
The youth center also has problems in Gori. The social enterprise “Space • Space” is forced to leave its working environment today.
“For us, as the only free youth social space in the city, it is especially difficult to write this post and tell our young people that we no longer have space! On January 24, the “Gori Municipality Cultural Development Promotion Agency” sent us a letter, according to which we must definitely vacate the space we created by January 31, because they intend to load this space with theatrical and educational projects. In 2022, when we took over the building under a lease agreement, there was nothing but gray walls, a building forgotten by everyone, and other things that we do not dare to talk about publicly. From gray walls and a forgotten building, we created the most colorful, free, and unconventional youth space, where at any moment of the day, any young person could play board games, read books, talk to friends for free… We turned the once empty walls into a home for young people” – Space • Space.
Now these centers need the support of the people they have served for years.
Photo: Space • Space
QvemoQartli.ge