I do not know a reason, but the teachers from Batumi are always the first ones to be informed about the new initiatives in the educational system.

This time it was the same: in Batumi it was stated, that high schools exams would be held again, the new textbooks would not be issued every academic year, children would have to go to schools, the school syllabus had to be improved, that patriotic feelings should be evoked among the schoolchildren, etc. Unfortunately, everything that had been mentioned above is truth. The truth is that only Unified Entry Exams can not do everything. As the rule, the opponents of the government will only hear things, they want to understand and the supporters of the government will talk only about positive issues. Nevertheless, one thing is clear, that the society will demand and expect much more from the new Minister of Education and Science, than from the former. Supposedly, high school exams will be held in ten subjects and Dimitri Shashkini will also have to “pass much more complicated exams.

The President’s speech in Batumi reinforced the position of those who believed that some reforms in educational system had fallen short. Now it is time to correct these mistakes.

Unfortunately, people who hold similar opinion could not or did not hear the President, Mikheil Saakashvili presented the action plan for the Ministry of Education and Science for 2010-2011 years in a most clear manner. The plan implies launching the second phase of the reform rather than reevaluating the achievements. The first phase of the reform was finished successfully: everyone knows that the school graduates are enrolled at the universities on a merit-based principle and the entrance exams are corruption free.

That is why the President thanked the former Ministers. I disagree with the idea that the objective of the education reform was ensuring that the entry exams be conducted outside schools and universities. This was the tactics and not the strategy to guarantee that the young people could receive a quality higher education in Georgia. By the way, teachers hailed the new initiative of the President. There are still many concerns in education sphere and these problems are most visible at schools. We can not afford to be satisfied only with the eradication of corruption, we must go ahead. Firstly, we shall deal with unsatisfactory conditions at schools. It is evident, that children of the senior grades often miss the classes, especially in big cities. The practice has showed that parents prefer their children to be trained by private tutors in those subjects they have to pass in Unified Entry Exams rather than encouraging them to go to schools. Unfortunately, majority of the schoolchildren do not have elementary knowledge of the fundamental subjects.

Perhaps the teachers are not qualified enough and they can not encourage children to study?

I disagree with you.  Our teachers are qualified and Georgian government does much for their professional development. Unfortunately, currently, great importance is not given to school diplomas. Therefore, high school exams will be one of the means of getting the children back to schools. Of course, the students will still pass four entry exams – General Abilities Test, Georgian Language and Literature, Foreign Language and an additional subject according to the profile. At the same time, children will have to cross minimal competency level in Biology, Physics, Mathematics, History, Geography and other subjects to get a high school diploma. Graduating from schools should not mean receiving the diplomas automatically, as it was before. High school exams will be held at examination centers. What do you think, if a person has been studying at school for 12 years, should not he be able to calculate 5 percent of 80? Or if a student has a strong background in mathematics, should not he know when did David the Builder reign?  What is wrong with this?

There is nothing wrong with that, but we remember the period, when the opponents of the former Minister Lomaia were arguing the same but no one listened to them.

The government couldn’t solve all problems at once. Eradication of corruption in the educational system was a number-one priority of that period.  If we had not settled this problem, we would not have been able to discuss these issues now.

 (I would like to remind to the readers, that the final and mid-term exams were abolished in 2004. Some people criticized this decision and the President was informed about this during one of his meetings).

 If I were your opponent, I would ask: Why are you strengthening the schools and enhancing the functions of the teachers, maybe you just want to keep them from not holding meetings in the streets? By the way, during his speech, last year, in Batumi, the President mentioned that a number one priority was a teacher and not a student.

This is from the conspiracy theory. They say a government builds roads for different reasons. This reminds me of something I have read in the newspaper: people are the followers of Satan if they don’t round the mathematical numbers. We are not raising the salary of the teachers to win their hearts, we are not afraid of losing the votes either.  Teacher certification has not been introduced for this reason too. Besides, we live in a democratic state and therefore, everyone has a right to express his opinion.

You have mentioned above the minimal competency level. Who will define it and which criteria will be used to define a minimal level of competence?

Currently we are working on that, we are discussing whether a minimal level of competence shall equal to 15, 20 or 25 % ? At the same time, we are working on improving the curriculum for 12^th grade. Preparing the students for crossing a minimal competency level will be one of the objectives of this program. This is very much alike to Germany’s model. The students need to go to school, they can not  have private tutors in all ten subjects. So from now on, the schools and not private tutors will prepare the schoolchildren for high school exams.

 Let us talk about the teachers’ professional development. As I know, teachers’ certificate exams have been abolished.  Why?

 Nowadays, 70.000 teachers are teaching around 600.000 children. It is clear, that all of them can not be the best. I have met bad journalists, but I do not protest against media for this reason. That is true, we have cancelled the certificate exams, but instead, we have introduced a teacher voluntary certification. The government will  provide the teachers

(Both public and private school teachers) with the vouchers of 160 GEL and they will select any accredited company in order to upgrade their qualification.  Certified teachers will receive a higher salary. Besides this, I have just approved the probationary program for prospective teachers; this program is being implemented successfully abroad. During the probation period a new teacher will practice teaching at school with the help of the mentors, mentors will be paid additionally for this job. We have to agree that, on the one hand, the prospective teachers acquire qualifications at the university, but on the other hand, the school contributes much to their final professional development.

 Will there be a big difference between salaries of the certified teachers and the teachers who have not participated in the process of voluntary certification?

 We are working on this issue and right now I can not answer you.

What could you tell us about replacing the physical culture classes with sports classes?  What was taught at physical culture lessons before?

 It is better to face a truth: nowadays physical culture classes are not properly delivered at schools. In the best case, the teacher throws a ball to a child and the child catches it. From September 2010, the schools will choose from various kinds of sports, this will add much to physical development of the schoolchildren. For example, there is a wonderful ice-skating pitch in Zugdidi. If the schools are willing to form a partnership with this sports complex, we are ready to purchase the skates for those schools that are located near the skating pitch so that the schoolchildren will have a chance to skate.

 What if somebody wishes to follow any other kind of sport?

 Well, every child will have a chance to follow any kind of sport and it will happen really; Sports competition among the schools shall be held regularly. In this regard, we will be following a pattern of the whole civilized world. Currently, we are discussing this issue with the Department of Sports.

 (Here, I would like to remind to the readers: according to the law, the schools without sport halls and appropriate infrastructure could not receive the accreditation.)

You are planning to introduce a military-patriotic teaching at schools. What does it mean? Firstly, I ask this because the reservists program failed. Secondly, we already have a professional army, besides that, the children study History of Georgia and Georgian Language and Literature at schools; one can quite a few examples of patriotism in these subjects. Is not it enough for evoking patriotic feelings among the schoolchildren?

Having professional army doesn’t mean that young people aren’t required to have elementary knowledge in the sphere of civil defense. School children don’t know how to secure themselves and what to do when the streets are full of foreign tanks. They do not know how to help their friend with torn artery. Introducing a civil defense and emergency assistance course is absolutely necessary. On a larger scale, the civil defense course teaches the child love of his country. Despite the fact that, the new school text-books will not be issued every year, I am sure that the Russian intervention of 2008 will be reflected in the learning programs. Biographies of all died soldiers can not be featured in all textbooks of History. Currently, together with the Ministry of Defense we are working on the issue of introducing a military-patriotic teaching at school.

How come the future teachers graduating from the most successful university (Ilia Chavchavadze University) had the worst results according to one of the international research?

It is difficult to answer this question. It is better to talk about the future plans rather than the past. Of course, some mistakes have been committed during the reform. Now we shall make fewer mistakes during the second stage of the reform.