Among the problems are infrastructure and capacity with many schools suffering severe building deterioration making the premises unsafe for students and teachers. Many students and teachers do not have the means to purchase books, study materials, or in-class equipment; and teachers do not have the capacity in new methodologies and using new teaching materials, much less the means to build that capacity.

Bela Leladze, 16, a leader of the school self-governance group in Rokhi school #1, says their classes lack the necessary materials and inventory to get a full education. She adds there are no infrastructure facilities in their school that would enable students to arrange and conduct desired extracurricular activities, though the enthusiasm is there.

"Our school has a big sport potential, but unfortunately we no longer have a sports hall at our school that we can use,” she said; “with World Vision’s initiative we intend to repair it and arrange sports competitions.”

As the children from other communities say, the material and technical base in their schools has to be improved. Apart from lacking sports facilities, students also complain that they have no cafeterias. Furthermore, there is no active networking between the schools in the region, which hinders their intentions to promote their intellectual, social, and cultural growth by setting up some athletic, academic, or extracurricular activities or contests among the schools.

World Vision’s education project seeks to address some of these needs and has made steps to introduce community members to the first phase of the project focusing on a school network by bringing together staff students from self-governance groups, school councils Community Initiative Groups, the Bagdati Municipal Resource Centre, the Education Department, and local government representatives. The meeting also gave the representatives from these 13 different schools and communities the chance to meet each other.

The proposed school network will involve all girls and boys in primary and secondary education and will be split up into groups based on their grades: 1st - 6th grade; 7th - 10th grade; and 11th - 12th. This network and its groupings will enable schools to identify common problems and solve them in cooperation with other partners, establish good practices of information and experience sharing, and plan and implement interschool youth activities.

“I think children will prioritise the major problems of our school in cooperation with their parents and teachers,” Merab Kvirikasvhili, director of Dimi school #1, said. “For this stage, we have decided to focus on creating better communications between our community schools.”

In addition, the network will support training in project development and proposal writing, conduct debate sessions, hold contests, enhance capacity, and create a competitive environment among schools. Schools were given an opportunity to submit their first proposal this month which will lay the ground for their first steps in this new partnership.

“I am excited to see the children’s interest in participating in this project. Our organisation will support and provide all the necessary assistance that is integral for improving the educational system in our communities,” said David Chkhobadze, Imereti ADP Manager.

Providing opportunities for recreation and cultural learning is important in the ADP and recently World Vision, together with local government and businesses, conducted an excursion for 135 sponsored children from ADP communities to the Gelati and Motsameta monasteries and the Sataplia cave sites. School teachers, ADP staff, and guides from Kutaisi State Museum accompanied the children and explained the sites and the history behind them.

“Every time I see a white car with an orange logo I become very happy because I know that something joyful and interesting will happen,” Davit Jangavadze, 9, from Shubani community, Persati School #1, said. “I hear a lot of interesting things from them [WV staff] when they come to my village. We watch cartoons together and paint. We have already become good friends.”

During the excursion, World Vision staff and parents discussed their concerns and vision for the future, revealing their hope for a better future for their children and expressing their belief that child sponsorship will bring positive changes in their communities.

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