On March 2^nd, 2019 EMC organized working meeting with the Muslim boarding house management and its community leaders in Batumi. Objective of the meeting was to assess and find possible solutions to the problem faced by religious boarding houses, as a result of changes made to the Law of Georgia on Licensing of Educational Activities.

Changes to the Law of Georgia on Licensing of Educational Activities was enacted on October 1^st, 2018 which obliged religious boarding houses to complete the licensing process and technical regalement – which requires alignment with the child care standards. Unfortunately, mentioned changes were made without taking into consideration peculiarities associated with religious boarding houses. As a result of this oversight mentioned establishments were included in a regulations aimed at institutions working with children in need. In essence, religious boarding houses carry out educational activities, their beneficiaries do not include children in need, therefore, asking these facilities to comply with the regulations which include the creation of family environment within their establishment is unfair and burdensome demand.

In the scope of the meeting boarding house personnel noted, that they are in no way against the government to regulate their activities, however, recently established norms makes their work practically impossible to carry out,  and is viewed as an attempt to shut down the facilities all together. According to the boarding house management, few similar establishments, due to harsh laws had to be closed down. In their view, it is unfortunate that the government does not see the social importance that the boarding houses have in shaping education in mountainous Adjara, where there is a scarcity of quality education. Muslim community noted, that in light of religious indoctrination, religious boarding houses represent Muslim learning and identity and limiting their scope of activity feels like an oppression of religious freedom. 

Independent experts, representatives of Public Defender and Ministry of Health, Labor and social affairs of Georgia were present at the meeting. In the scope of the gathering it was agreed upon that challenges faced by the boarding house would be further looked into and the appropriate measures would be advocated with the government.

Meeting was made possible in scope of East-West Management Institute’s (EWMI) program “supporting the rule of law in Georgia” (PROLoG) grant.