Caravan of Citizenship Education in Georgia. Day 4. Samtskhe-Javakheti region
10th of October Civic Education Caravan 2023 Georgia was hosted by the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and more precisely Samtskhe-Javakheti State University.
Tamar Karaia discussed the issue of radicalization and the violent extremism with around 70 students attending the meeting from the different faculties of the university.
The presentation was devoted to discuss the challenges of the modern word, the fight for womens` rights, discrimination, radicalism, extremism and terrorism.
Together with the speaker, the audience discussed the well-known historical facts throughout the world history. The speaker emphasized the importance of the formation of civil society and noted that civil education plays an important role for democratic countries to overcome above mentioned challenges.
From the very first minutes of the start of the presentation, the students actively participated in the discussion and answered facilitators` questions ardently. The event was full of activities and here we can share impressions of some participant with a pleasure.
„The meeting was informative, quite productive, this was caused by the fact that many examples were presented in the presentation. It is also important that Mrs. Tamar had feedback with the students and there was a question-answer mode“.
Lizi Tevdorashvili
The day was full of activities focused on civic values, activism and democracy. An Ukrainian expert Oksana Zamora conducted the next meeting with students about the following topic “Integrity concept in daily life.”
The goal of the activity was to raise participants awareness on the perception of integrity as a core value for a person, student, employee, citizen – all social roles we perform consciously or unconsciously in the society.
About 60 students expressed their interest and attended the meeting. The facilitator managed to keep their interest and lead the session interactively, raising many deeply philosophical questions and dilemmas which are crucial and challenging for young people.
The main focus of the meeting was about people’s behavior in a daily life, why individuals make concrete decisions, what is the basis of people’s behavior.
The issue of misinformation was also mentioned during the session. The facilitator thinks that the media, modern technologies and received information influence on our inner beliefs during the decision-making process.
Besides the state university, students, teachers and the members of the administration of the local college “Opizar” had an opportunity to attend an interesting meeting conducted by civil education expert Lela Javakhishvili.
The meeting – effective civil engagement mechanisms to solve the problems in the community – was oriented on the importance of citizens in new democracies to acquire civic competences and apply them in daily practice.
The facilitator discussed the principles of active citizenship, 12 principles of democratic governance of the Council of Europe, the role of elections in democracy and the use of technology, significance of participation of youth.
The presentation also included information about the mechanisms of electronic involvement of citizens in the Georgian Parliament, as well as on the level of local and the central government.
“All citizens must be the change we want to see in the world.“
Rati Tatalashvili
“Public awareness should be increased, even with such trainings and meetings. The fact that people are not interested in details, should be changed. Thanks to the Caravan.“
Mariam Khitarishvili
Continuing the topic of democracy, a human rights defender and non-formal education trainer from Ukraine Nazarii Boiarskyi organised an interactive discussion on “Promoting Democracy in Educational Institutions”.
Using the example of the story of a Ukrainian teacher who uses rap in her teaching, the participants moved on to the topic of democratic schools. During the discussion, participants assessed the level of democracy in their educational institutions and shared tools to ensure it.
“We teach democracy through democracy and for democracy. That is why it is important that teachers themselves transmit democratic values and be its supporters”
Nazarii Boiarskyi
Caravan in Georgia is organized by Eastern-European Association for Citizenship Education under support of the Federal Agency of Citizenship Education of Germany (bpb) and funded by German Foreign Office. The local partner of Caravan is a Civic Education Teachers’ Forum (CETF, Georgia).
Read more:
The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Georgia has started
The EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan continues its journey across Georgia. Day 2
See the programme of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Georgia
