Do the country’s schools and universities give Georgians a good education?

“That’s the question. We have professional lecturers and teaching staff at universities, but the situation is turbulent. The real professionals have left universities, forced out by the government, and little children have taken the posts.”
Bachi, doctor, 51

“The system is really poor, but Georgian people have a special character which is expressed in an inclination towards the education. This will save us as a nation.”
Karlo, lecturer, 47

“The country’s schools are in extremely poor condition. Public schools are just Georgians cheating Georgians. A child can’t learn anything from schools without the help of private teachers.”
Marika, designer, 27

“Our predecessors in the sciences left a large body of work. But no one is interested in science today. Young people only want high status, big money and luxury goods. Who cares about science?!”
Avtandil, mathematician, 70

“Our government’s educational reforms were superficial. They changed the terminology but everything remained the same.”
Ilia, assistant professor, 55

“The system itself is poor, but the Georgian people make great strides to educate themselves.”
Nineli, geography teacher, 37

“We have a good educational system, but our government is smearing its reputation by making it impossible to get a high-level job without a degree from abroad.”
Maka, student, 22

“Everyone knows that the educational system needs some reform, but our government had the wrong idea: ‘We mustn’t root out everything, but build the new on the old.’ It didn’t work.”
Nazi, journalist, 59

“If one wants to learn, he would learn even at home…I graduated from Javakhishvili State University, and there were many dunderheads, while real educated and motivated people spend their lives sitting in their personal studies.”
Maka, sociologist, 25