A digital learning platform Digital University for convicts in penitentiary institutions has been launched for the first time in Georgia, allowing convicted students to remotely receive a comprehensive higher education, attend lectures online and have direct, interactive communication with lecturers, the justice ministry announced on Saturday.
The platform, which includes undergraduate and master’s degrees from authorised universities in Georgia, has been implemented in cooperation with the Georgian education ministry. In the initial stage, the project was launched at No.16 penitentiary institution, where the justice minister Rati Bregadze and the education minister Mikheil Chkhenkeli got acquainted with the training process, while also visiting the professional employment and vocational training spaces for convicts.
The ministry said the Digital University would make education “even more” accessible to convicts, increase the “quality and efficiency” of teaching, and contribute to the rehabilitation and resocialization process of convicts, as before the academic education in the penitentiary institutions had been carried out only by correspondence method and students had not been given an opportunity to communicate directly with lecturers.
