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Compiled by Messenger Staff
Friday, July 30
Ivane Kighuradze – ‘Present government condemned a death to Georgian science’

In his interview with Kvela Siakhle, academician Ivane Kiguradze spoke about the situation in science in Georgia.

“The Academies of Science were founded in the states of Europe where communist regimes had been established after World War II, but the Academies had not been revoked when those states left the Soviet Union. They are well aware how to look after national values. As for reforms in the education field, we shall not be able to achieve any points by replacing the titles. Faculties were called directions, and Full professor, Associated Professor and Assistant-Professor to professors, lecturers and assistants. God bless you, but is not ‘lecturer’ easier to say than Assistant-Professor? The ongoing reforms make it impossible to create a competitive atmosphere for the scientists. Where can a young talented scientist go today?’ – The respondent says.

‘The demolition of science and scientific-research institutes is underway especially after the ‘Rose Revolution’. The culmination of those processes is the July 9, 2010 decree of the Georgian government signed by Prime-Minister Nika Gilauri, which envisages joining scientific-research institutes to the state universities’, - the Academician regards.

‘According to the decree of the government of 2006, signed by Zurab Noghaideli, 56 scientific-research institutes were separated from the system of the Academy of Science attaching the status of the legal entity… What was the goal of ‘innovation’ initiators? Noghaideli’s government submitted a draft law ‘on the science, technology and their development’ to the parliament in 2005, envisaging the ceasing of the basic development of the research institutes moving them to grant financing. It does not happen in any of the normal states indeed. Who did raise that idea? Kakha Bendukidze, Kakha Lomaia and Zurab Noghaideli did. By the way, the law was softened a bit due to the efforts of the parliamentary opposition, especially by ‘New Rightists’ then’, - Ivane Kighuradze adds.

‘It will negatively affect our country in the future. It will attack the political-economical and social life of the country, because the end of the generations in science will take centuries to be restored again. The present government handed a death sentence to Georgian science. ‘Factually, those 15 institutes were liquidated. The universities were announced as their assignable entities. The intellectual potentiality of the state is sacrificed to the fixed ideas of Gigi Tevzadze. I cannot help saying the process of repressing science is underway; they wish to bury science like in 1930's. The government treats the research institutes like political criminals’, - Ivane Kighuradze adds.



Single military unit in every village

The president of Georgia raised a new initiative. According to him, every village must have its own security service. The president spoke about the intensification of the civil defense systems. He remarked that the system of reservists was not realistic because there did not happen to be sufficient officers in the army of Georgia, Rezonansi writes.

‘We had battalions of reservists but did not have sufficient officers in the army. Every village must have its own security service to manage defending its streets, towns, regions. The state defense is the task of every ethnic resident of Georgia’, - the president stated. According to him, the civil system must be developed to achieve that point.

”There are real dangers indeed. But the approach, that there must be stationed military sections in every village, will not bring anything to us. We need a consolidated state system. It is good the commander-in-chief sees the dangers and makes right estimates about them, but he seems to have a bad adviser on the military issues. The essential reorganization of the defense system is vital. There is to be set up a professional army, which will always be ready to react to enemies invading the country. Alongside this there must be a component created which will secure the instant mobilization of military units’, - the military expert Giorgi Tavdgiridze says.