Education Ministry Presents New Scheme for National Exams
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, January 30
Passing the general skills exam will no longer be mandatory for the university entrants. They will have to pass three mandatory subjects instead of four.
Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili has called the step “catastrophic,” which will bring the Georgian education system to its end.
The general skills exam was firstly introduced in 2005, shortly after the United National Movement came to power with the leadership of Saakashvili.
The exam consists of two parts-logical thinking and mathematics. The score received in the exam used to play a major role in obtaining the state funding for university studies.
Now the Education Ministry says that the university entry exams will be conducted in three required subjects instead of four from 2020.
Georgian language and literature and foreign language exams will be mandatory for all entrants.
The third compulsory subject will be determined based on the programmes of higher educational institutions.
Students studying Science will take maths, while Humanities students will take History, the ministry says.
Entrants will also be able to choose both technical and humanitarian programmes.
From 2020 universities will have the right to determine the minimum passing grades themselves.
Professor Simon Janashia says that the existing school and the university entry exam systems are harmful, which “force” students and their parents pay for facilitators for unnecessary subjects and also disable universities work on specific programs.
He claims that the “decentralization” was necessary, as more money was being spent for the expenses of the National Exam Centre (which organizes all types of exams in the country) rather for better educational programs or funding of students.
Janashia says that this is only the initial step and further, “reasonable” decisions will be necessary to help the Georgian education system.
