During her visit to Adjara region, Ekaterine Dgebuadze, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, together with Maia Khajishvili, Minister of Education, Culture and Sport of Adjara together with Ghasan Khalil, UNICEF Representative in Georgia, participated in the opening ceremony of the Children's Rights Centre at Batumi State University. The event was also attended by the Ambassador of Norway - Helen Andresen and the Ambassador of Estonia - Riina Kaliurand.

Ekaterine Dgebuadze addressed the audience and stressed the importance of supporting universities in raising public awareness regarding children's rights whilst training highly qualified teachers. As she pointed out, young people who choose the path to become educators should be equipped with the knowledge focused on the rights of children. According to the First Deputy Minister, this is the only way to master the principles and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while applying it in our daily lives.

It is important that the Centre is the first in the Adjara region and only second in the country. Its operation will help raise awareness and inform children, specialists, academics and civil society representatives, teachers, parents and children in Adjara about children's rights.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Ambassador of Norway, the Rector of Batumi State University, Professor Merab Khalvashi, and the Representative of the United Nations Children's Fund in Georgia, Ghasan Khalil.

It should be noted that the Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights already operates at the Akaki Tsereteli State University, where various types of events are held - trainings, public lectures and discussions, as well as special educational materials on children's rights are developed.

The goal of the UNICEF program is to strengthen children's rights culture and human resources in Georgian universities so that they can develop right courses for undergraduate and graduate programs to prepare future teachers, education administrators, lawyers and other professionals.