US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said he considers the consultations with the Iranian side through mediators held in New York successful, Report informs.
“Today, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, we engaged in lengthy talks with the Iranian delegation through the mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day. They successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising,” he wrote on X. “The mediators will continue their work.”
US President Donald Trump earlier said that there are now prerequisites for reaching agreements on ending the conflict with Iran. He noted that his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Witkoff had held a very productive meeting with mediators on Iran. According to the US leader, many good ideas were presented at the meeting.
Sports journalist Anar Khanlarov left his home in Sumgayit half an hour earlier than usual on 21 September to make it to Baku in time for a TV programme. But even that was not enough.
He planned to take the metro from 20 January station to Nizami, then a bus to 28 May, followed by bus No 5 towards State Flag Square. As the İdman TV studio was undergoing renovation, filming was taking place at the Rowing Federation building on the boulevard.
His bus became stuck in traffic near Winter Park. Khanlarov continued on foot towards the Puppet Theatre, hoping to catch another bus from there or, failing that, take a taxi. When he reached the theatre at 20:40, he found that the road towards Bayil was closed. The programme began at 21:00, but Khanlarov did not reach the filming location until 21:25, alternating between walking and running. By then he was sweating heavily, and the production team decided he was not in a suitable condition to appear on air. As a result, Khanlarov did not take part in the programme at all that day.
The main events of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will take place on 24–26 September. But even before the racing begins, road closures and changes to bus routes have brought life in the city to a standstill.
26 bus routes changed, leaving passengers with no real alternative
According to a plan by the Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency (AYNA), 26 bus routes have been changed between 21 and 26 September.
Route No 5, which Khanlarov had planned to take, is among those affected. On one section, the bus runs between Nariman Narimanov metro station and Suleyman Rahimov Street, while on another it runs along a route covering the Salyan Highway, Bibi-Heybat Mosque and the Baku Funicular. Under the new arrangements, it is no longer possible to use the bus to travel from the city centre to Bayil via the usual route. Some stops on this and other routes are inside the restricted race zone. There is no alternative public transport available.
The changes have also affected people travelling into the city from the suburbs. Buses No 149 and 149E from the settlement of Sahil and No 195E from Alat now run only as far as the Lokbatan transport hub near the Bina shopping centre. Passengers travelling to the city centre have to change to another form of transport. Bus No 125 reaches the centre via the ring road through Badamdar.
The transit corridors announced by the organisers are also not an alternative for bus passengers. On 21–22 September, they are open from 07:00 to 09:00 and from 18:00 to 20:00. However, these arrangements do not apply to public transport. Except in emergencies, picking up and dropping off passengers is also prohibited within the transit corridors. By the time Khanlarov reached the Puppet Theatre at 20:40, he says, the evening transit window had already closed.
Former transport officials have also complained about the traffic jams. Mais Aghayev, former head of the Baku Transport Agency’s press service, wrote on Facebook:
“We haven’t moved for an hour and 40 minutes on the stretch from the Mikayil Aliyev roundabout towards Heydar Aliyev Avenue.”
The congestion has also been acknowledged by the authorities. On the evening of 22 September, the Intelligent Transport Management Centre reported traffic jams on 28 May Street, as well as on the section of Shamsi Badalbeyli Street running from Winter Park towards the Central Bank. These streets are also part of the routes affected by AYNA’s changes to bus services.
Seven schools and universities switch to remote learning
Measures related to the race are not limited to changes to transport. According to the Baku City Education Department, seven schools are holding classes online from 22 to 26 September: Public Schools No 6, 7, 8 and 23, Classical Gymnasium No 160, Lyceum No 132–134 and the Ilyas Efendiyev Elite Gymnasium.
Under an order issued by the Ministry of Science and Education, universities in Baku have also switched to remote learning from 23 to 25 September. The ministry says the measure is intended to ensure continuity of the education process.
The move may reduce the number of daily journeys to schools and universities. However, remote learning creates additional difficulties for working parents: who will look after younger children, and how will families ensure they have the devices and internet access needed for online classes? The switch to remote learning does not mean parents no longer have to go to work. So while it may ease pressure on the transport system, it does not necessarily ease the everyday burden on families.
No indication of how much longer journeys will take
Natig Jafarli, an economist and chairman of the Republican Alternative party, linked the problem to Baku’s fragmented system of governance in a Facebook post on 14 September. In his view, the key factors are the availability of public transport and journey times. He also argues that any changes to working hours should take into account the school schedules of employees’ children.
Economist Akif Nasirli told Radio Azadliq that the race should be held outside the city centre. In his view, the economic benefits of the event should not be used to justify restrictions on residents’ freedom of movement:
“People have the right to move freely in their own country, in their own capital.”
AYNA’s traffic management plan for the race, published on 19 September, lists alternative streets that drivers can use. However, it provides no information on actual bus frequencies along the altered routes, how much additional time journeys will take, or how much time passengers may lose when changing between separate sections of disrupted routes.
For residents, it is not enough simply to know which street a bus will take. They need to know when to leave home, where they will have to change and whether they can get to work on time. Without this information, the burden of adapting to the route changes — and the consequences of any resulting delays — falls on passengers themselves.
TEHRAN, Sep. 23 (MNA) – An exhibition of the achievements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces opened Tuesday evening on Shahidan Sarbaz Boulevard in Tehran under the slogan “Labbayk Ya Khamenei.”
The All-Armenian Student Association Will Hold a Private Meeting with Nikol Pashinyan in New York Today
Students will reportedly not be allowed to ask questions directly or respond to the answers they receive. Questions must be submitted & approved in advance. Several Armenian student organizations have contacted All-ASA to express their opposition to the meeting, while several board members have reportedly resigned.
Ten state schools in Georgia were closed during the first three days of the new academic year. Some of the buildings are due to be demolished and rebuilt, while others will undergo repairs.
The decision followed assessments by the National Forensics Bureau, which found that the school buildings were in a state of disrepair and unsafe for use.
One of the schools is in Tbilisi, while the others are located in different regions across the country.
For the first week after the closures, the schools switched to remote learning. During this period, the Education Ministry and school administrations are expected to urgently find alternative premises.
All 10 schools are likely to be temporarily accommodated in neighbouring schools, with classes held in two or three shifts and lesson times shortened. If any of the alternative schools are too far away, school buses will be provided.
More than 4,000 pupils and around 400 teachers are now waiting for the ministry to decide where they will be relocated and which shifts they will study and work in.
his is not unprecedented. In recent years, thousands of pupils across Georgia have been studying in temporary, “borrowed” premises, while schools that were demolished have yet to be rebuilt.
How events unfolded and what the decisions were based on
The closure of all 10 schools followed the same pattern. The start of the new academic year on 15 September was celebrated as usual, with balloons, flags and flowers in school courtyards and classrooms.
Three days later, on the evening of 17 September, parents received messages informing them that the schools were being closed.
Number of pupils and teachers at the closed schools. Source: JAMnews, based on data from the official schools portal.
In all 10 cases, the decisions to close the schools were based on assessments by the National Forensics Bureau dated 10 September 2026. The education minister says the ministry did not receive the documents until 17 September, explaining why the closures were announced at such short notice.
Some parents do not believe that the school buildings are unsafe. They suspect that some of the decisions may be linked to corrupt deals and investors’ interests.
JAMnews examined publicly available documents relating to all 10 schools, including decisions by the Authorisation Council, expert assessments, public procurement records, renovation plans and municipal reports.
We sought answers to several questions: Why were these schools allowed to begin the academic year as normal on 15 September if their buildings had to be vacated just days later? When did the responsible authorities learn about the condition of the schools? And if the buildings were already destined for demolition, why was money allocated for their renovation year after year?
The documents examined by JAMnews show that concerns about the poor condition of some of the schools had been known for years. In other cases, however, there had previously appeared to be no need even for repairs, let alone demolition.
Some of the schools underwent minor renovation work in recent years, with substantial sums spent on the projects.
For example, according to public procurement records, Public School No 16 in Kutaisi underwent various repairs in 2015, 2017 and 2022. The largest amount was spent in 2015 — around 190,000 lari [about $70,300].
The Kutaisi school made its most recent purchase just three weeks before the start of the current academic year. On 24 August, the administration signed a 2,500-lari [about $925] contract for maintenance of the school grounds, including mowing and removing grass.
Public School No 16 in Kutaisi. The start of the academic year was celebrated with invited entertainers. Photo: school’s official Facebook page.
The public school in the village of Misaktsieli underwent major renovations in 2008, while its heating system was completely upgraded last winter.
This is also confirmed by the Mtskheta municipality’s 2025 budget. According to the document, several schools were due to undergo renovation work funded through a targeted transfer from the state budget. The school in Misaktsieli was among them.
The Misaktsieli school continued to spend money on various works and services in 2026. Its most recent contract, signed on 4 September, was worth 12,515 lari [about $4,635] and covered the removal of flooring, plumbing work and the subsequent installation of granite flooring.
The school in the village of Abranlo, in the Kvemo Kartli region, is the smallest of the schools closed in recent days, with around 80 pupils. It too has undergone renovation work in recent years.
Mariko Tsikoridze, a project co-ordinator for CENN in Kvemo Kartli, says three sanitation and hygiene projects were carried out at the school before 2019. Toilets were built, washbasins renovated, and an illegal rubbish dump created by local residents in the school grounds was cleared.
“We brought in six truckloads of soil and built a sports ground. The local authorities were also actively involved at the time,” Tsikoridze says.
The school is now due to be demolished. Its headteacher, Mikheil Jakeli, wrote on social media that, according to the National Forensics Bureau’s assessment, constructing a new building would be preferable to repairing the existing one, prompting the ministry to decide on demolition.
Problems left unaddressed
For some of the schools, JAMnews was unable to find any relevant records in the public procurement system. However, municipal reports and local media articles show that concerns about the condition of these schools had been raised for years.
For example, parents of pupils at Public School No 5 in Khashuri were calling for repairs as early as January 2023, complaining about damaged walls, floors and doors, as well as loose stair railings.
First day of the new academic year at Public School No 5 in Khashuri. Photo: school’s official Facebook page.
In municipal reports from the Imereti region, Public School No 2 in Tskaltubo had for years been listed as a building in need of renovation.
Available records for 2022-2026 contain no evidence of major renovation work at the school. However, according to Info Imereti, minor repairs were carried out, including in the summer of 2026.
“There is an assessment stating that the building is not cost-effective to repair. It would therefore be better to construct a new one rather than renovate it,”Mamuka Chkhetiani, head of the Tskaltubo education resource centre, told Kutaisi Post.
Officials knew as early as 2022-2023 that Public School No 3 in Senaki was in a state of disrepair. In 2022, the school’s headteacher, Marine Naneishvili, told Etaloni that the building was due to be demolished.
The Finance Ministry’s 2023 review of investment projects listed the “Construction of Public School No 3 in Senaki”as a separate project, with 12.696m lari [about $4.7m] allocated for it. It is unclear what became of the project.
Public School No 3 in Senaki. Photo: school’s official Facebook page.
Reaction at schools
Members of the school communities at two of the 10 schools — in Tbilisi and Misaktsieli — responded to the authorities’ decision with protests, which are still continuing. At the other schools, discontent has largely been confined to social media, where parents have complained about the disruption to both their children’s plans and their own.
“We are in shock” is the most common reaction beneath posts announcing each new school closure.
Two of the three schools closed in the Kakheti region — Public School No 3 in Gurjaani and the school in the village of Velistsikhe — are in Gurjaani municipality. More than 500 children attend the Velistsikhe school, while School No 3 has 148 pupils.
“Congratulations to the school community of Velistsikhe Public School — pupils, parents, teachers and everyone interested in improving our school,” headteacher Nona Menabdishviliwrote on social media alongside the news of its closure.
The post attracted numerous comments, many of them essentially asking: “What is there to celebrate?” Others shared stories of schools elsewhere that have remained closed for years.
Unlike Menabdishvili, Mikheil Jakeli, headteacher of the school in Abranlo, expressed no enthusiasm about the Education Ministry’s decision.
He has appealed to the ministry to allow pupils to complete the current academic year in the old building, subject to appropriate safety measures, “to avoid moving the children elsewhere just days after the start of classes and causing them unnecessary stress”.
‘From positive assessment to demolition’ – story of School No 21
The largest of the 10 schools to be closed is Public School No 21 in Tbilisi, formerly Gymnasium No 6. News of its closure was also the first to emerge.
It is one of the capital’s most prestigious schools. Because of its emphasis on German-language teaching, it is often referred to as the “German school”.
According to a National Forensics Bureau assessment dated 10 September 2026, several problems were identified in the school building, including a risk of plaster falling from the façade, a faulty drainage system, cracks in some areas and damage to reinforced concrete blocks.
The assessment also identified seismic vulnerability as a separate problem, citing the absence of an earthquake-resistant reinforcement belt on the roof parapet and other failures to comply with current seismic standards.
Protest outside Public School No 21 on 18 September 2026. “Don’t demolish the Sixth,” reads an improvised protest banner.
However, the same school had previously received a very different assessment from the same National Forensics Bureau on 15 November 2023, when it underwent authorisation. The assessment said the building required repairs, but gave it an overall “positive” evaluation, and the school was authorised to operate until 2032.
In April 2026, the Authorisation Council carried out scheduled monitoring of the school and, citing the positive assessment, said the building required repairs and gave the school until 2028 to address the problems.
In other words, as recently as spring 2026, official documents still listed School No 21 as requiring repairs rather than demolition.
However, by the time the Authorisation Council made that assessment, a new examination of the school building was already under way.
The Municipal Development Fund had requested the examination on 16 September 2025. An expert inspected the building on 10 December, and nine months later, on 10 September 2026, issued a new assessment.
The building was initially classified as Category III based on the extent of the damage. However, following Georgian government decree No 161 of 22 April 2026, which sets out criteria for assessing whether buildings are fit for use, the damage was subsequently classified as Category IV because of seismic safety concerns.
How could the school have deteriorated so severely in three years that it now needs to be demolished? This is the question being asked by parents. Many suspect corruption. The school is located in a prestigious tourist area, prompting speculation that a private investor may be interested in the site.
Parents fear that the school will be demolished and never rebuilt. They are demanding an independent assessment and say they will not allow the building to be torn down. They also oppose both online learning and the relocation of pupils to other schools.
If we don’t act now, we will lose our school’ – story of Misaktsieli village school
Protest outside the school in Misaktsieli, 18 September 2026.
Irine Kalandadze’s child started first grade this year. He had barely had time to settle into school when his parents were told it was closing:
“He had only been at school for three days and was eagerly looking forward to the next one — he liked it so much. Then suddenly we were told the school was closing. I can’t explain this to my child, and it is very painful for me too. This is precisely the stage when children need to develop a love of school, and now we don’t even know where or how he will study.”
The school in Misaktsieli serves five villages in Mtskheta municipality and has more than 500 pupils.
Parents say lessons will be held online for the first week after the closure, after which the children will be transferred to the school in the village of Tsilkani. But that school has capacity for only 300 pupils, meaning classes will have to be held in several shifts.
Parents do not know for certain whether the Misaktsieli school is due to be demolished or is being closed for repairs. On 18 September, residents gathered in the school grounds and demanded an explanation from the headteacher, who told them that he had not yet seen the expert assessment himself.
Villagers fear there may also be business interests behind the decision: the school is in a popular tourist area, occupies a large site and is surrounded by numerous commercial properties.
“We all want our children to study in a modern school. It’s just that we have seen many examples of how school renovation projects have ended,” Irine says.
Parents are demanding that, if the school needs repairs, the work be postponed until spring. If the building is to be demolished, they want construction of a new school to begin simultaneously on vacant land nearby, with the existing building demolished only once its replacement is ready.
“If we don’t act now, we will lose our school,” Irine says.
The protest is continuing, and parents say they have no intention of backing down.
In 2022, the Education Ministry launched a large-scale reconstruction programme that was intended to cover 800 schools.
Since then, hundreds of schools have closed across Georgia. Two years ago, in 2024, the fact-checking platform FactCheck reported that 21,203 pupils had been relocated to alternative premises.
Based on publicly available data, the number is likely still in the tens of thousands. The Municipal Development Fund, which oversees school reconstruction, regularly publishes updates on the completion or launch of work at schools across Georgia.
For example, in August 2026, the fund announced tenders for the reconstruction of 11 schools. None of the 10 schools closed in recent days appears on that list, suggesting that the overall number of schools currently not operating in their own buildings is considerably higher.
On 18 September, as thousands of teachers, pupils and parents were reeling from the news that their schools were being closed, government officials were holding a high-profile ceremony to reopen the renovated Public Schools No 4 and No 5 in Batumi.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Education Minister Givi Mikanadze and other senior officials at the opening of two schools in Batumi. Photo: Municipal Development Fund.
What is actually happening?
Education experts say the situation illustrates systemic problems and a lack of a consistent strategy and long-term vision in the education system.
Education expert Revaz Abkhazava lists the problems created by what he describes as a poorly planned intervention — the reconstruction of schools:
It has disrupted the education process;
It has upended established routines for parents and children, including attendance at after-school clubs and additional classes;
It has shown a complete disregard for teachers’ needs, with low salaries forcing many to work at several schools at the same time;
It has imposed additional costs on the state for transporting pupils to other schools.
“The education system is extremely complex. It consists of many interconnected components. If you fail to see it as a whole, you get what we are seeing now. A single decision does not simply create one problem — it can push the entire system to the brink of collapse.”
Abkhazava says such decisions are the result of experienced and qualified professionals with institutional knowledge being pushed out of the education system.
“School reconstruction is a technical task. It does not require any special expertise. Education management professionals could have resolved this issue very easily.”
The expert also points to problems in communication between state institutions. The process, he says, was not managed in a way that would have ensured the assessments were ready at least a month before the start of the academic year.
Revaz Abkhazava believes the root of these problems lies in the politicisation of Georgia’s education system. He says education should not serve any political party and that safeguards are needed to ensure this, including an education council and teachers’ associations. He also argues that the ministry’s strategy should not change every time a new minister takes office.
“The education system should be as decentralised as possible. The ministry should employ professionals with knowledge and experience in education management and education policy.
“The ministry should focus on evaluation, analysis and research, and make decisions based on them. It should support educational institutions, while those institutions should have the autonomy to make decisions on matters that concern them,” the expert concludes.
