Newspaper: “24 Saati”

19 May

Teaching of Natural Sciences Is Reinforced at Schools

Author: Nino Barabadze 

The initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia on reinforcing the teaching of Natural Sciences at schools already has good results.  The number of entrants registered at faculties of engineering, natural sciences, has increased. In previous years the state allocated 85 % of its grants for the students of humanitarian faculties. This year 80 % of the state grants will be allocated for the students of the faculties of engineering and natural science. Ministry of Education and Science plans some other innovations in the future in order to raise schoolchildren’s interest in the subjects of Natural Science.

Minister Dimitri Shashkini speaks about the challenges and achievements in this field.

In September 2010, you said that Reinforcement of teaching Natural Sciences at schools was one of your top priorities. What steps have been taken in this direction since September?

In the world of Globalization the problem of lacking schoolchildren’s interest in Natural Sciences is same for Georgia and for USA and for other countries of Europe. It will be impossible to talk about the development of the country without teaching schoolchildren the subjects of Natural and Exact Sciences. That is why it is the top priority for the Ministry. In order to solve the problem we have developed the strategy.

A lot has been done during the current academic year. High school exams have been established and 12^th graders have to pass the exams in the subjects of Natural Sciences as well. This helped us to raise schoolchildren’s attendance. They study the subjects of Natural Science with more interest. Abitur hours enable students to once again repeat the material and be better prepared for high school exams. The schools have been equipped with laboratories of Chemistry, Physics and Biology equipped with the modern technologies that support the development of the research skills of the schoolchildren.  Schoolchildren are able to conduct research, register and analyze results and make appropriate conclusions.

The contest of young inventors “Leonardo Da Vinci” was also organized in order to raise schoolchildren’s interest in exact and natural sciences.

The schools have been also provided with modern IT technologies. Using smart boards and Lego robot technological constructions in the teaching process makes Physics more interesting for the schoolchildren.

 It is interesting what influence did the reinforcement of natural sciences have on entrants who were choosing humanitarian faculties rather than natural science last year?

I go to the schools every day and get information from the teachers of natural sciences personally. The schoolchildren have started attending the classes and they study the subjects of natural science. It has already resulted in numbers: in previous years government was allocating 85 % of its grants for the faculties of law, international affairs and other humanitarian fields, now 80 % of its grants will be allocated for the faculties of engineering and natural sciences.  It is also worth noting that the number of entrants registered on the faculties of engineering and natural sciences has increased with 102 % and number of entrants registered on the faculties of IT technologies has increased with 40 %.

What will be the next steps of the Ministry in this direction? What other projects do you plan?

Much more should be done. Everything that has been done was good but not enough. Last year when we started to solve this problem, we had subjective and objective reasons.

Georgia is post soviet country. According to the soviet ideology the professions of engineer, physicist, biologist or mathematician were not successful and popular. At the same time lots of research institutions were not operating. We are trying to break these soviet stereotypes.

Despite the fact that the number of entrants registered on the faculties of engineering and natural sciences have increased, there is a lot left to be done. Famous physicists, biologists, mathematicians and scientists working abroad give lectures to the schoolchildren and help us to popularize the natural sciences among youngsters.

Do you plan any changes in the National Curriculum in order to strengthen the teaching of natural sciences?

New subject – Science will be taught at schools from 2011-2012 academic year.  At the moment our experts are developing the textbook for the new subject. Later the teachers will pass the trainings on this matter.

The text book will combine the topics of Chemistry, Biology and Physics. The subject will be taught in the 7^th grade before the schoolchildren start to learn each discipline separately.

Teaching natural sciences in this form is approved in many countries of the world.