Ex-head of National Exam Centre, fired under current gov’t, retrains people in the ruling party
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, May 14
The former head of the National Assessment and Examinations Center (NAEC) of Georgia, Maia Miminoshvili, fired by current Minister of Education Mikheil Batiashvili, is retraining the members of the Georgian Dream ruling party.
Members of the party say that Miminoshvili is a 'highly-qualified' person, stating that her new duty is to hold training for the ruling party members.
A member of the party, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, has dismissed speculations that Miminoshvili is also tasked to choose new members of the party.
“Selecting the members for the party is the job of the Georgian Dream Political Council,” Kaladze said.
Both under the previous United National Movement and the current Georgian Dream governments Miminoshvili held the reputation of 'one of the most incorrupt' state servants, who was the author of the education reform which defeated corruption in the university-entry exams starting from 2005.
Batiashvili fired two of his deputies and some senior officials from the Education Ministry, including Miminoshvili, last year, citing the necessity for 'new energy, new vision, and new staff policy' as the reason.
Former education Minister [Under the United National Movement leadership] Dimitri Shashkin also, unceremoniously fired Miminoshvili in 2012 from her post as 'her views on the direction of reforms were fundamentally different from the ministry's [Ministry of Education of Georgia].'
However, that year, in 2012, the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the nine-year rule of the United Motional Movement and Miminoshvili was reinstated to her previous post, the head of the National Examination Center.
In 2007, under the United National Movement, Miminoshvili was even appointed as the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia for some time.
