President signs amendments to law on General Education
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, January 9
President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili signed amendments to the law on General Education.
The President made the decision after his administration’s active consultations with the Ministry of Education.
The President’s Parliamentary Secretary Ana Dolidze said the amendments were necessary.
“Our citizens and children are equal before the law and quality education must be accessible throughout the country. The education policy should be defined by the Ministry of Education and Parliament,” Dolidze said.
The Presidential Administration said that some provisions need to be more concrete in order to avoid any kind of discrimination.
Education Minister Aleksandre Jejelava said during the implementation of new educational criteria, the possibility of any discrimination wascategorically excluded.
He underlined that the proposed changes would ensure access to a quality education for everyone.
Jejelava explains that as a result of the amendments, the schools throughout the country will be classified into three groups: small, large and leading.
“Small schools will be schools where few than 200 students study, while large schools will have more than 200 pupils. As for the leading schools, they should meet certain criteria,” said Jejelava, and added that leading schools should also offer a special curriculum to their students.
Moreover, the minister noted that different schools would receive different levels of financing from the state.
“Government allocations for individual schools are enough to satisfy the needs of smaller educational institutions, but that larger schools often face financial difficulties,” he said.
Chairperson of the Committee Mariam Jashi said the division of schools into categories would positively reflect on the quality of education, opening doors to innovation within the system.
“Each of the changesproposed to the General Education and Higher Education laws will only bring the more access to the education and will improve quality and bring fair competition regime within the system,” she added.
Education reform was initiated by the government of Georgia. It is one of the top priorities of the four-point governmental plan, which includes four main areas: modifying Georgia's income tax rules, improving governance, accelerating infrastructure projects and developing higher education.
