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Margvelashvili says decision about the school textbooks will not be changed

Liberali reports that the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, said the decision about the school textbooks will not be changed during his ministry.

“I can say that we aspire to create a free market,” Margvelashvili said, stressing that the EEPG had better address the ministry with questions before writing a letter. He said he is carrying out the interests of the Georgian population, not any local or European NGO.

In a letter sent to Margvelashvili, EEPG wrote that they were informed by the Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association (GPBA) that the Georgian market is under serious threat due to the latest decisions of the Government of Georgia.

They are worried that the Georgian government has “decided to print the textbooks without prior agreement with the publishers, who are the owners of the intellectual property of all textbooks, thereby totally neglecting their rights to receive income under the terms of agreement including their own investment revenues, authors’ royalties and a reasonable profit.”

Stressing that this process will not only cause the bankruptcy of educational publishers, but also lead to a monopolization of the textbook market through “infringing on the copyright and intellectual property rights of the publishers” the EEPG said. “If the situation is not changed rapidly it will eventually affect the democratic development of a new independent country.”