We Spend More and More on Low-Quality School Education

From 2011 to 2018, the state funding on school education almost doubled in Georgia. However, international studies and official statistics show that the quality of education remains critically low.

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Georgia ranked 60th among 72 countries and economies in terms of quality of school education. As for the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, Georgia was 106th among 137 countries.

In 2016-2018, on average 77% of students could successfully pass the final school exams, while this number was 84% in 2011-2015. Physics, mathematics and foreign languages are the most difficult subjects for Georgian students.

Approximately 67 000 teachers are employed in Georgian schools. As of the end of 2017, only nine teachers had the highest - mentor’s status and 257 teachers – lead teacher’s rank, one-step lower status.

As of 2017, only 30% of teachers were certified ones. In 2010-2017, only 25% of teachers who participated in certification exams could overcome the minimum threshold. The teachers of elementary schools, physics, information technologies, and mathematics have had the lowest scores.

In 2011-2017, an average nominal monthly salary in public schools (including teachers) has doubled and reached GEL 548. However, this number is almost half of an average salary in all sectors of the economy in Georgia. Salaries in public and private schools do not vary significantly. According to the latest data, an average nominal monthly salary is GEL 631 in private schools.

Lack of correlation between funding of school education and its quality is caused by the nonexistence of proper quality-oriented public policy. This fact is proved by the school education program of the Ministry of Education’ budget. This program does not aim at raising the education quality and no proper measurement indicators are given.
(TI Georgia)