Student Rights at School and the Right to Appeal

The Right to General Education and Its Accessibility

Every student has an equal right to receive full general education so as to fully develop his or her personality and acquire the knowledge and skills needed for equal opportunities in private and social life. Primary and basic education are compulsory. The state creates a general education system and appropriate socioeconomic conditions, and guarantees every student — including students with special educational needs — the right to receive general education in the state or native language, as close as possible to their place of residence. Where exercising this right through the standard voucher is impossible, the state provides such students with an increased voucher and/or additional funding within a corresponding targeted program approved by the ministry.

For a student with special educational needs, an alternative curriculum, an individual curriculum based on the national curriculum, and/or an extended curriculum is used, under which his or her teaching, social adaptation, and integration into public life are carried out. In a public school, such a student must, when needed, be provided with appropriate human resources and programs or services, financed by the state.

Basic Guarantees at School and the Limits of Restrictions

Students, parents, and teachers, as well as their associations, are entitled — on equal terms, without discrimination, and in accordance with the established procedure — to enjoy, during school hours or on school territory, all rights and freedoms protected by law and recognized by the school, as well as all school resources. A school may restrict rights at those times and places only on a non-discriminatory basis, namely where a substantial and imminent danger exists to the safety of health, life, or property; to preventing encouragement of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco consumption or unlawful action; to preventing the spread of indecency or slander, the incitement of ethnic or religious strife, or inducement to crime or violence; or to preventing obstruction of the educational process, school activities, or free movement on school territory.

Any restriction of the rights of a student, parent, or teacher must be reasonable, proportionate, and minimal, and must be imposed only on the basis of the established procedure, in full compliance with the Teacher's Professional Ethics Code, through proper and fair process. The school is obliged to introduce every new student, parent, and teacher to their rights and freedoms, and when restricting them to explain the ground for the restriction within a reasonable time. Information for a student must be supplied in a manner appropriate to his or her age and individual abilities, through accessible means of communication. Students, parents, and teachers also have the right to hold information about their rights and the grounds for restricting them, and the right to participate in school governance personally or through an elected representative.

The Right to Appeal — Every Stage of the Dispute

The law empowers students, parents, and teachers to defend their rights and freedoms by appealing unlawful and otherwise illegitimate actions of the teacher, the school, and the educational institution resource officer (the mandatur), and to receive full compensation for damage caused. The school is obliged to create an effective means of independent and impartial consideration of complaints; the same obligation — creating an effective means of impartial consideration of complaints — is imposed on the mandatur service. This is the first stage of dispute resolution, elaborated in the school's internal rules and other legislation.

The second stage is the court: labor disputes arising between a public school director and the school's staff, between the board of trustees and the director, and between the director and the ministry are examined by a court under civil procedure as civil disputes. In court, a public school is represented — on the basis of the director's power of attorney — by an employee of the ministry or its relevant territorial body, and on the territories of the Autonomous Republics of Abkhazia and Achara, by an employee of the corresponding authorized ministry. Specific deadlines for filing a complaint are not directly fixed by these norms; they are determined by other legislative acts, so in each case those acts and the school's internal rules must be consulted.

Neutrality and the Prohibition of Discrimination

Politicization of the educational process in a general education institution is impermissible. In a public school it is impermissible to use the educational process for the purposes of religious indoctrination, proselytism, or forced assimilation; this norm does not, however, restrict the celebration of state holidays and historical dates or events aimed at establishing national and universal values. Any discrimination at admission to school is impermissible; an entrance competition is allowed only in institutions providing military, specialized arts, and sports training, as well as in schools of other statuses, and when conducting a competition the person's special educational needs must be taken into account.

A school may not use its powers and resources in a way that may directly or indirectly cause discrimination against a student, parent, or teacher, or their associations. Any differentiating action or exception is considered discrimination unless it is just and reasonable and serves ensuring the free development and equal opportunities of each person and group. The school is obliged to protect and promote tolerance and mutual respect among students, parents, and teachers, regardless of their social, ethnic, religious, linguistic, and worldview affiliation. A separate clause enforces the requirements of the law on family values and protection of minors: it is impermissible to include in the school's educational program, or for a school employee within school activities or on school territory to disseminate or promote dissemination of, information aimed at the popularization prohibited by that law; the term "popularization" is defined by that same law.

Freedoms of Expression, Assembly, Association, Private Life, and Belief

Students, parents, and teachers have the right, in accordance with the procedure established by law, during school hours or on school territory, to seek, receive, create, store, process, or disseminate any information and ideas, and to use school resources for those purposes. A student has the right to express his or her own opinion and to demand respect for it. Infringement of the editorial independence of school publications and censorship of books in the school library are impermissible, although the school may impose non-discriminatory and neutral restrictions to protect minors from the harmful influence of age-inappropriate literature. Attracting donations for charitable purposes is voluntary and follows the established procedure; the school must take all reasonable measures to prevent extortion of funds or other benefits. Students and teachers enjoy academic freedom of study, teaching, and research within the framework of the goals of the national curriculum. A school may introduce a school uniform in a way that does not restrict the freedom of expression of students and teachers, while students and teachers have the right to reasonably refuse to wear it.

Beyond expression, the law protects several further fundamental freedoms within the school community:

• freedom of assembly — assembly on school territory is possible upon prior notice; the school may not conduct or control the course of an assembly against the participants' will, although it may attend where necessary; an outsider may attend a student assembly only by invitation, except for cases provided by Georgian legislation related to ensuring safety on school territory;
• freedom of association — interference by the school in the activities of student, parent, and teacher associations is impermissible except in cases provided by law, and an outsider may not run or control such an association;
• inviolability of private life — no one may be required to disclose information about their private life; personal data are collected and stored in line with this law and the General Administrative Code; information on academic performance is kept separately from disciplinary data; a school may require a student or teacher to undergo a medical examination for diseases, alcohol, and drugs but must ensure the accessibility of such examination; arbitrary restriction of private communication and of property transferred for personal use is impermissible;
• freedom of belief — everyone enjoys freedom of religion, confession, and conscience, including the right to freely choose and change any or no belief; no one may be obliged to perform duties fundamentally contradicting their belief unless this violates others' rights or prevents achieving the attainment level set by the national curriculum; the placement of religious symbols on the territory of a public school must not serve non-academic purposes; public school students may, in time free from school hours, voluntarily study religion or perform a religious ritual if it serves receiving religious education.

Discipline and Disciplinary Sanctions

School discipline must be maintained through methods based on respect for the freedom and dignity of students and teachers. Requirements set by the school's internal rules, disciplinary proceedings, and sanctions must be reasonable, substantiated, and proportionate. Apart from measures of responsibility established by Georgian legislation, the school's internal rules may provide for a student's warning, strict warning, expulsion from a lesson, temporary dismissal from school, assignment of activity useful to the school, and other disciplinary sanctions.

The procedural guarantees are clearly defined: disciplinary proceedings may be conducted only in the cases provided by the internal rules and in accordance with the established procedure, through proper and fair process; during proceedings the school must explain to the student or teacher the essence of the disciplinary offense committed; the student's parent must be notified immediately of the application of a disciplinary sanction and of the initiation of disciplinary proceedings; and the student has the right to appear, together with a parent, when an issue concerning the student is decided. In case of temporary dismissal from school, the parent is notified immediately, and in case of expulsion from a lesson or temporary dismissal the school must keep the student under its care.

Prohibition of Violence, Inspections, and Separation of a Student

Violence against a student or any other person at school is impermissible. In case of physical and/or verbal insult, the school must react immediately in the manner established by Georgian legislation. For the purpose of safety and public order, a student must obey the lawful instructions of the educational institution resource officer (mandatur) or, in his or her absence, of the person authorized for this purpose by the school director. The mandatur or the authorized person must inform the parent and the director about a suspected disciplinary offense or violation committed by the student and about the measures taken in response, and, in case of a suspected offense, must notify law enforcement bodies.

The law permits only a non-contact surface inspection — and only where circumstances point to a possible breach of the internal rules or a possible violation of the law and there is a sufficient basis for the presumption that the inspection will reveal an item prohibited by law, an instrument of committing the offense, an object bearing its traces, an item or value obtained by it, or an object or document needed to clarify the circumstances. The rules for this procedure are strictly defined:

• the inspection is conducted by a mandatur of the student's respective sex or by a same-sex person authorized by the director — an exception is allowed only where the school has no person of the respective sex; a school employee must also be present;
• collective non-contact surface inspection is impermissible; the student is warned in advance about the inspection, and the parent is notified immediately;
• if a presumably illegal item is discovered whose possession is for law enforcement to address, law enforcement is notified immediately, and the item is handed to the parent or to law enforcement depending on its nature;
• a protocol is drawn up on the inspection or separation recording the ground, purpose, place, conditions, attendance, and participation; the circumstances are explained to the student in language understandable to him or her.

Separation of a student, in an emotionally and physically safe environment and in the presence of a person authorized by the director, is allowed only in the best interests of the student — where his or her actions threaten someone's life or health, where the student refuses the inspection and discovery of the item is otherwise impossible, or where the student refuses to hand over the discovered item. During separation, the measures of the school, the mandatur, and where necessary a psychologist or social worker must serve the student's safety, risk reduction, and behavior management; the parent is notified immediately of the separation, and in case of a suspected violation so are law enforcement bodies; separation lasts until the parent or a person designated by the parent arrives at school. Video surveillance is conducted on the external and internal perimeters of the school to protect persons and shield minors from harmful influence. Detailed rules on inspections, separation, administration of video surveillance, the electronic database of violations, and use of metal detectors are determined by the rule and conditions on safety and public order protection in general education institutions — a separate normative act that fixes the technical details of these procedures.