Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Sport of Georgia - Ekaterine Dgebuadze held an interagency working meeting on crime prevention in schools. The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Justice - Mikheil Sarjveladze, Head of LEPL National Agency for Crime Prevention, Non-Custodial Sentencing and Probation -- Tatia Khocholava, as wel as various representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.

During the meeting the sides discussed the needs of special educational programs for children with behavioral and emotional disorders and development of various supportive services. Samtredia Boarding School №15 will lose its function as a semi-closed institution, in accordance with the law of Georgia, and the Ministry will offer students alternative services.

The Deputy Minister noted that the development of behavior correction and rehabilitation programs in juveniles plays an important role in the process of juvenile justice reform and implementation of the Children's Rights Code. Effective and coordinated work of relevant state agencies is important in this regard. Ekaterine Dgebuadze emphasized the need to develop standardized assessment tools for students with difficult behaviors and also discussed strengthening the role of social workers in secondary education institutions in crime prevention.

At the end of the meeting, the parties expressed their readiness to deepen cooperation between the state agencies and planned future meetings to discuss in detail several issues.

LEPL - Boarding School №15 in Samtredia is the only juvenile referral facility in Georgia, which currently has 9 juveniles (boys). The relevant department of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Georgia, as well as the multidisciplinary team, are in constant monitoring of all boarding schools established by the Ministry, including the Public School №15 of Samtredia.