Mikheil Batiashvili: "substantial changes are needed in the Education system"
Mikheil Batiashvili informed the members of the Education, Science and Culture Committee of the Georgian Parliament regarding the reforms planned by the Ministry for the coming future, and emphasized, that its implementation is already underway. Additionally, he stated that the involvement of all stakeholders, including the legislative body is crucial to the entire process.
The Minister believes that the education system needs to undergo substantial changes. Therefore, the reform should not be written in the cabinet, but it needs an involvement from various stakeholders. Consequently, for this purpose, a working group has been created, who works on the aforementioned reforms with the leading field experts, as well as international donor organizations. Furthermore, a close cooperation with the Education, Science and Culture Committee, in conjunction with their recommendations will bring positive results to the overall development of the reforms.
According to the minister, the reforms package, which will be finalized in the near future, includes all the stages of education system development. It will have specific tasks together with the execution deadlines and will be focused on specific results.
Moreover, during the meeting, the sides discussed the importance of improving the quality of textbooks and the overall curriculum, in conjunction with advancing teachers’ qualification and moving forward with the vocational education reforms. Majority members have expressed specific proposals regarding the infrastructural problems of public schools, including the ones located in rural areas.
According to the chairman of the Committee - Mariam Jashi, the increase of education funding is the general focus of the parliament and the entire government. According to her, by 2021 education funding will have increased by 6% in respect of GDP, but in order to deliver a significant outcome, major steps need to be taken in 2019-2020.
During the meeting, it was decided, that meetings of such nature will be held on permanent basis, thus ensuring the maximum participation of the members of Parliament in the development and monitoring of current and planned educational reforms.
