Under the auspices of the Information Center on NATO and EU under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the support of the Georgian Institute for Debate and Education, preparations have started, as part of  extracurricular activity, for the creation of educational debate clubs for teachers living in West Georgia.

The goal of the project, on the one hand, is to promote critical and analytical thinking among young people, and on the other, to strengthen the skills of teachers.

At the meeting, the invited experts, the director of the European Integration Department of the General Directorate of European Integration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zurab Khamashuridze, and founder of the “Military Journalists Association”, journalist and military expert – Giorgi Tskhvitava, spoke about the process of Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration, its importance, dynamics of cooperation and future prospects. Special attention was focused on the format of debates, order of speeches and positions.

At the end of the meeting, teams were trained to create debate clubs and hold the final tournament.

It should be noted that a total of 70 teachers throughout Georgia will be trained using Karl Popper’s “Policy debate” methodology. Over the course of two months, within the framework of 10 workshops, trained teachers will work with young people on media literacy, critical thinking, fight against disinformation, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Georgia and other topics. At the third stage of the project, it is planned to hold a national debate tournament.

The meeting is being held within the framework of the project ” Building an Informed and Resilient Society” funded by the U.S. Department of State, which is being implemented by the Information Centre on NATO and EU, together with the U.S. Embassy to Georgia.