Maia Miminoshvili comes back as head of a private consultancy that will make recommendations to her former employer, the Ministry of Education. (IPN.)

TBILISI, DFWatch – An key figure in Georgia’s education reforms who was recently fired has made a comeback and launched her own consultancy to improve the education system.

“We plan to provide some recommendations to the Ministry of Education and vigorously urge them to do what’s necessary,” says Maia Miminoshvili.

The new office is called Educational Policy and Research Association (EPRA) and will provide different types of training, consultation and useful literature for university students and teachers, Maia Miminoshvili said at a press conference on Thursday.

Her dissmisal from the Ministry of Education sent ripples through Georgian politics, especially when she met the top opposition figure in Georgia, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the day after her dismissal.

Education Minister Dimitri Shashkin on May 28, 2012, dismissed Miminoshvili from her job as head of the National Examination Center, because of incompatibility over how to conduct reforms. But Mimisoshvili said her firing was politically motivated and saw it in connection with her son’s participation in a large opposition rally the day before.

Sixty of Miminoshvili’s former staff who left their jobs in solidarity with her have joined her in the new office, which technically has status as a so-called non-governmental organization, or NGO.

One of them is Mamuka Jibladze, a skilled computer programmer who has made an important contribution to the digitization of exam results in Georgia.