Central Election Commission of Georgia (CEC) and LEPL Centre for Electoral Systems Development, Reforms and Trainings (Training Centre) within the framework of long-term partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia (Ministry), implements various informational and educational programs in public schools in order to promote the civic awareness of students and strengthen their electoral culture.

Within the framework of continuous cooperation with the Ministry, the Election Administration and the Training Centre are launching a new project "Promoting the Conduct of Student Self-Government Elections in Public Schools Located in Regions Densely Populated by Ethnic Minorities". Focusing on the above-mentioned goal, within the framework of the project, it is envisaged to support the holding of self-government elections in public schools, which includes both the training and educational component, as well as the organizational and technical support of the election process.

In the training-educational direction, the Training Centre developed an informational program, on the basis of which, on October 6 of this year ensured the training for the representatives, teachers of the public schools designated for the pilot project in the context of reviewing the essence of elections in general, on the issues of the importance of holding self-government elections in public schools, and the procedures for holding them. The representatives of the public schools trained as trainers will inform the students about the issues of participation as a candidate, a member of the election commission and a voter in the school self-government elections.

Within the framework of the pilot project, the Training Centre also developed additional instructions (available in Georgian). The mentioned informational resource is recommendatory and describes the organizational-procedural issues of school self-governance elections, the mentioned guide aims to promote the full realization of the rights of persons involved in the election process and the effective implementation of the activities by the public school administration, teachers and students for conducting the elections.

In the part of the organizational and technical support of the student self-government elections in public schools, the Election Administration, with the involvement of the relevant district election commissions, provides public schools with election equipment (secret voting booths and ballot boxes)

The pilot project is being implemented in 21 public schools located in 8 municipalities densely populated by ethnic minorities (Bolnisi, Dmanisi, Tsalka, Marneuli, Gardabani, Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda). According to the schedule agreed with the Ministry, the student self-government elections will be held in the period of October 10-21, 2022.