School 21 Building Condition Disputed by Parents

Parents and teachers of the 21st public school published an assessment of an independent expert on the conclusion made about the school building. According to them, on the basis of this assessment, it cannot be proven at this stage that the building needs dismantling.

The statement says that the Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau continues the examination of the building, but the school initiative group is not allowed to participate in the process.

According to the independent expert's conclusion, five main issues were identified. First: the damage was not measured, and the conclusion was based only on visual inspection. In 2023, the same bureau assessed the same damage as grade I and declared the building safe, while in 2026 it was assessed as grade II–III without explanation.

Second: category IV was assigned without calculation. Resolution No. 161 requires calculation of the damaged part, but this was not done, and grade III damage was directly turned into category III.

Third: incorrect norms were used. The building is a large-block structure, but when assessing it, thresholds established for brick buildings were applied. Of the five remarks, only two have a basis in the norm, and for these two the bureau proposed reinforcement in 2023.

Fourth: elevation to category IV is not justified. This norm is discretionary, and the conclusion contains no calculation showing the necessity of its application.

Fifth: the reinforcement option was not considered. The resolution allows reinforcement as an equal alternative to dismantling for category IV, but the costs of reinforcement and of a new building were not compared. Nine days after the dismantling recommendation, the same bureau allowed temporary use of the building and stated that it is not in an emergency condition.

"We want to emphasize: we do not claim that the building is safe. We say that the actual condition of the building was not established by measurement in any conclusion. Decisions on children's safety must be based on facts, not visual inspection," the statement says.

A working group was created on October 15, consisting on one side of parents and teachers, and on the other side of representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Municipal Development Fund. According to parents, state agencies do not answer the questions of the school community. Samkharauli experts do not notify in advance of their visits to the school, although it had been agreed that an independent expert would attend the inspection.

Parents demand an independent, instrumental seismic assessment of the building carried out according to international standards. Their demands also include the participation of their expert in all examinations and site visits, immediate provision of requested documents and orders, and written answers to questions raised in the working group.

To date, they have not received from the Ministry of Education: a decision on suspending classes, dismantling the building and redistributing students to other schools; a decision on restoring the educational process and carrying out repair work on the external facade; a decision on canceling the first decision; information on finding an alternative building for the school; information on transferring the Tskhinvali theatre building to the school.

From the Municipal Development Fund they have not received: a decision on involving their expert in the repeated comprehensive instrumental examination; the technical assignment provided to the Samkharauli examination; information on the planned stages of the ongoing repair work on the external facade; answers to letters written on September 22, 2026.

Based on the September 10, 2026 conclusion of the Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau, the building of School No. 21 faced full dismantling. After protests by parents, students, teachers and the public, the ministry postponed the dismantling for 1 year. Now the agency has returned the issue to the agenda and invited experts to reassess the situation.