The winner of the contest "Learn in a safe environment"

The public school in Heretiskari, Lagodekhi Municipality, was awarded top place in the EIEC's "Learn in a Safe Environment" contest.

The "Weather Forecasters from Heretiskari" project was designed to protect the community and school from natural disasters. One of the many initiatives to reach this goal was the acquisition of a weather monitoring device, which the school purchased with funding from the contest.

The device will be installed on the new school building's roof soon. We will be able to predict the weather a few days ahead of time using the program, as well as have a forecast for the water regime of the Alazani River, which is close to the school. I would like to underline the importance of the contest "Learn in a Safe Environment" and similar activities. It helps schools decrease the risk of climate-related disasters and develops knowledge in this area, both at school and in the community. "Our school is doing a lot for this; we're trying to make a difference," Marina Nandoshvili, director of Heretiskar Public School, said. School student Salome Putkaradze spoke about the survey conducted in the community. As a result, it was determined what threat the community is vulnerable to, what the population thinks about weather forecasting, and how important it is for them to receive information.

One of the most important activities within the project was the creation of educational brochures and their distribution to the community.

Lali Gelashvili, a geography teacher at a public school in the village of Heretiskari, emphasised the importance of disseminating information about natural disasters.

‘’I've been a teacher for a long time. I adore both our school and the village. We make every effort to participate in projects that we find interesting. It's fantastic that we were able to enter the contest and receive financing in the first year. One of our project's major accomplishments, in my opinion, is the creation of information brochures that we have distributed to the community. As a result, the general public is already aware of how to protect themselves and their communities in the event of a disaster. Raising awareness is, after all, critical to the community's long-term survival. In addition, because the community is particularly vulnerable to flooding, we have previously arranged a simulation exercise for the event. Education is something that both schoolchildren and communities are looking forward to," Lali Gelashvili stated.