Newspaper “24 Hours”

September 7, 2011

New Developments in Education for 2011-2012 Academic Year

Nino Barabadze

A new academic year will start from September 15^th in all public schools of Georgia. During the summer, Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia (MES) has been working on different projects and programs. In parallel to this, Ministry has administered High School Exams, Unified National Exams, GRE Exams and Teacher Certification Exams. The results of these exams have demonstrated that education reform is being carried out successfully.

Minister Shashkini talks about the novelties introduced in the education field for 2011-2012 year.

Dimitri Shashkini:  High School exams held in the format of CAT were organized for the first time in Georgia. It was conducted with the use of the innovative technologies as the school students passed exams via intranet. International education experts positively assess the exams, according to them, a lot of countries can learn from Georgian experience. On the one hand, we are proud of our achievements, on the other hand, we have a huge responsibility.

People used to debate the issue of necessity of introduction of high school exams in the beginning of the academic year. The schoolchildren got back to school; they also performed well in the national unified exams. This was largely conditioned by the introduction of high school exams. Judging from the results, society can see that the step taken by the Ministry in this respect was necessary.

Unified national exams were conducted without any complications. The entrants received high scores and majority of them chose Natural and Exact Sciences as their field of studies instead of humanities. Systematic communication among Ministry and school students assisted the schoolchildren to make adequate decisions in regard to selecting their future professions. Engineering has become popular among the students.  More students started to pursue Professional education programs.

Some students didn’t manage to pass the High school exams, Is there any solution to this problem?

There are only few students who could not pass these exams; nevertheless, they can retake the exams in the next academic year free of charge. As you know, I have issued a decree which envisages granting a special school diploma to those school students who cannot pass the exams but are planning to continue their studies abroad. Specifically, their diplomas are notarized with apostille. In many countries, high school exams and unified national exams are not administered, that’s why we took into account the interest of every child. This solution is especially important for the representatives of ethnic minorities living in Georgia. There are cases when students opt to study in Azerbaijan or Armenia. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that; none of these students will be able to continue their studies at accredited and authorized HEIs within Georgian territory without passing high school exams.  Moreover, they cannot transfer to Georgian universities via mobility scheme without passing the high school exams.

Were teacher certification exams successful?

Teachers take two exams: one is general ability test and another is a subject test. Teachers are free to take these two exams separately. This year, we have 4 000 certified teachers. Next year, we are expecting to have more certified teachers, as up to 9 000 teachers have already passed one exam. Teacher certification exam is voluntary till 2014, according to our calculation, 75% of the teachers will be certified by 2014. Certified teachers will get additional payment to their monthly salary with the amount of 75 GEL. Those who pass the exam in English Language and Computer will also get 200 GEL as an additional payment, mentor teachers will receive 160 GEL as a surplus to their salary, at the same time, 25% of the teachers with highest scores in certification exams will get 1000 GEL as monthly salary.

Ministry has been working on new projects during summer, what are the novelties that will be introduced from the new academic year?

From September 15^th, a new national curriculum will be introduced for I-VIth grades.

Rumors were spread that parents were allegedly obliged to take their children to school at the age of 5. This is not truth, as it is up to parents to decide whether to take their kids to school at the age of 5.

Despite this fact, 20 000 kids have been registered as a first graders for this academic year. It is interesting, that the new national curriculum has been tailored to meet the needs and interests of 5 year old kids. More specifically, the curriculum comprises many entertaining lessons and games. Duration of the lessons will be 35 minutes. Head teachers have also been trained to better handle 5 year old kids.

All first graders and head teachers will receive netbook as a present from the President of Georgia. The kids themselves will be the owner of these netbooks.  Netbooks will feature learning programs and games and will serve as additional source of education of the kids. On September 15^th, the ministry will post the new interactive game developed by Intel on its web site. All schools will have access to these games and schoolchildren will be able to develop their skills in logics. Netbook has Georgian font and it is also very durable. The computer has Microsoft’s licensed programs.

As it is known, last year ,net books were introduced in the learning process only in pilot schools. Survey results showed that those kids who were applying computer in learning process were able to more efficiently handle school assignments than those who were not.

All tenth grade students with the highest marks will get LENOVO computer (produced in Georgia) as a present from Georgian government.

There were some problems in regard to School Textbooks..

This year, schoolchildren of 1^st to 6^th grade will study with the new textbooks developed according to the modern standards. These textbooks will stay unchanged for subsequent 5 years. All schoolchildren from 1^st to 12^th grade who come from socially vulnerable families will get school textbooks free of charge.

As to the price of the school textbooks, price of some textbooks were reduced by 200%. At the same time, we provide service to the parents of the schoolchildren. They can subscribe textbooks via Georgian Post cheaper. We also posted posters in each school of Georgia that feature all bookshops and stores where textbooks are sold. Books fairs will also start operating.

What about other novelties?

350 schools are being rehabilitated, 12 schools are being constructed. At the same time, I would like to apologize those parents whose children will be studying in those schools which are under renovation. Fortunately, there are only few such schools in Tbilisi and ongoing works will not affect learning process.

New school desks and boards have been distributed to all schools in Georgia. At the same time, schools have been equipped with modern laboratories in Tbilisi and in all big cities of Georgia. Soon, laboratories will be delivered to all public schools.

School Resource officers have been taking various professional courses during the summer, for example, they have taken up training in English and Computer ,in Psychology , some of them have been trained as a rescue officers in order to more efficiently  protect safety at schools.

As to the TLG project, this program proved to be successful, and we are planning to further enhance the program. Specifically, we are planning to open English cabinets at schools and distribute English language textbooks there. At the same time, 1500 native and fluent English language speaker teachers will arrive to Georgia this year.

eStudents system  is a new system in Georgian educational sphere, in the scope of which the Ministry elaborated a new eSchool  strategy. By creating the eStudents system, Ministry has saved 12 million GEL. This amount was spent on rehabilitating the school infrastructure.

eStudent system gives us opportunity to develop ejournal. Parents will monitor their kids’ academic achievements and class attendance via this journal. In the future, schools will be managed via electronic system. Class hours for teachers will be allocated via electronic system as well; this system will protect the right of the teachers and give opportunity to society to get information in regard to school expenses and other school related issues.