09.08.2007 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

New national entrance exam for universities and colleges requires knowledge of Georgian, in which ethnic minorities are not generally fluent; facing this barrier, many ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis end up studying abroad ("Minorities Face University Barrier") [ID 20849]

Document(s): Open document

13.02.2007 - Source: Council of Europe - European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

Mixed reception of the announced reform of school programmes by ethnic minorities; bilingual schools potentially improve minority children’s chances, but Georgian could take over their mother tongue ("Second report on Georgia: Adopted on 30 June 2006 and made public on 13 February 2007 [CRI(2007)2]") [ID 19183]

"The announcement of reform of the system and programmes at primary and secondary school has had a mixed reception from ethnic minorities. On the one hand the existence of bilingual schools potentially improves minority children‘s chance‘s of having a better command of Georgian when they leave school. On the other hand the move to make Georgian the compulsory language of instruction for certain subjects in minority schools by the year 2010 has caused some concern. Some members of ethnic minorities are afraid of Georgian taking over to such an extent that their children will no longer be proficient in their mother tongue. Others consider the date for introducing the new System unrealistic, arguing that it is not possible to find and/or train enough subject teachers with adequate command of Georgian in such a short time."

Document(s): Open document

04.08.2003 - Source: Freedom House

Private educational institutions have proliferated since independence, especially at the university level ("Nations in transit 2003") [#15273], [ID 4635]

"Private educational institutions have proliferated since independence,
especially at the university level. According to the Ministry of Education,
there are 220 private and 24 state universities; however, some 60 percent
of university students are enrolled in the state schools. For the most part,
the quality of Georgia’s new private universities is low. Schools that set
high educational standards tend to be those that have Western ties. Some
of these include the European School of Management, the Caucasian Business School, the Georgian Institute for Public Affairs, and the Black Sea
University. At the secondary level, 350 out of the nation’s 3,170 schools
are private. State educational institutions suffer from corruption and insufficient funding, but they are not subject to political influence."

Document(s): Open document

10.2002 - Source:

Central Asia and the Caucasus, Journal of Social and Political Studies: Crisis in Higher Education and Educational Migration from Georgia (No 5 (17) 2002) ("Central Asia and the Caucasus, Journal for Social and Political Studies") [ID 4636]

"Since 1991, higher education and science in Georgia have been the objects of important reforms. These reforms, as well as the whole process of change in these fields, went under the decisive influence of two distinct factors. One was the economic crisis and impoverishment of the state, aggravated by disruption of old administrative system; the second is an attempt of the whole nation to distance from the Communist legacy and integrate into the western world, acquire its values and standards. Current reform, the Education System Realignment and Strengthening Project (World Bank US$60 million project, the first US$25.9 million phase of which has already been launched, focuses on restructuring secondary schools) aims at systemic changes to address both individual higher education institutions and higher education system as a whole in a more coherent way. The goal is to identify ways and recognize limits to structural diversification, while considering funding resources and labor market demands, to plan and to develop curricula in ways that would make them compatible with the curricula of western universities. Higher education institutions in Georgia, however, have their built-in conservatism, a certain resistance to change, whether these initiatives come to life locally or innovations are introduced by outside forces. Whatever the view on the ways of relating societal changes and changes in higher education, the systemic reforms of the current stage have been part of a general ongoing process of transformation, and the same factors hinder their progress. Thus, there has been indeed a considerable development in the situation with the higher education in the last decade, since the declaration of Georgia's independence and revolutionary changes in all sectors of Georgian society.

The Law on Education, a result of the reform process that is underway in Georgia, adopted in June 1997, has introduced multiple changes that need now to be implemented. The main principles of this reform process are diversification and decentralization of education, both of which have brought about the establishment of new education institutions, including private ones, changes in curricula, and the introduction of new academic degree levels. The former centralized and unified system is intended to be replaced by a system, which takes into account the interests of students and professors, of the academic community, and of employers. However, lack of resources, poor management, corruption, inertia and conservatism are strong obstacles to such change. Other factors, contributing to ongoing crisis in higher education, include obsolete curricula, inflated and immobile faculty, inadequate number of narrow specializations against the background of no market demand for many of them, systemic inefficiency of state funding in supporting innovation and reform, and narrowly commercial motivation at the private institutions.

Nowadays, the existing system of higher education consists of two branches: state universities that are conservative and drastically under-funded, and private "commercial" institutes that are aimed at profit, thus structurally unable to pursue any other goals. Increased demand for lecturers and opportunities for additional salaries enabled many university professors to continue their professional activities at private institutes. Material resources of these institutes are mostly quite scarce; they usually rent classrooms in schools only for the part of the day. Others that were opened on the bases of academy research institutes (e.g. the Institute of Medical Psychology based on the D. Uznadze Institute of Psychology, or Institute of Asia and Africa at the research Institute of Oriental Studies) attract staff and material resources of respective institutions"

Document(s): Central Asia and the Caucasus, Journal for Social and Political Studies

12.2000 - Source: UN Development Programme

UNDP: The overall access of Georgian youth to the primary and secondary school system has been shown to be good ("Human Development Report 2000") [#10556], [ID 4637]

"In general terms, the overall access of Georgian youth to the primary and secondary school system has been shown to be good and this is reflected in the indices for combined primary and secondary enrollment. Primary and I level
secondary education are almost universal and show remarkably high graduation ratios. We are concerned, however, with the quality of education provided to youth and we hope that the reforms to the education system, which include
teacher examinations, will show the planned and desired results. In addition, the purpose of the II level of secondary schools must serve other more productive ends than being a mere formal springboard to access tertiary education. Students only invest in these two final years of secondary education to access a prestigious department at prestigious institutions with Tbilisi State University topping the polls. Those turned away try the Kutaisi and Batumi institutes, including the commercial ones. The most unfortunate ones try to obtain a higher education diploma as a sort of consolation prize for their investment of time and energy. The need for attaining not only good quantities of students enrolled but also a good quality of education provided has
apparently been well understood by the Georgian Government and the Parliament. Both recognize that there is a need to define the objectives at each education level in view of the demand of the market and society. The Government has
taken the first steps to address this issue. There has been the development of a new Minimum Content Curriculum Standards for basic education. The new "Law on Education", which was adopted in 1997, envisages (starting from 2001) the introduction of external assessments at the end of grades 6, 9 and future grade 12 in order to grant certificates at the end of each cycle. The most far-reaching provision of this Law is that the grade 12 exam would replace university entrance exams. We agree with the project’s authors that such measures can finally break the vicious system of informal applicant training and corruption at entrance exams. At it stands today, access to universities is restricted and biased toward those in the higher income brackets or those with the right social connections. However, the replacement of entrance exams at universities by grade 12 exams must be accompanied by a substantial
revamp of the quality of learning provided at the first and secondary school stage. Otherwise another informal system of tutors will develop in the secondary education system. In this regard, we applaud an initiative by the Georgian Government aimed at improving the quality and relevance of general secondary education. Phase I of this project has begun to develop the policies and institutional framework required to effectively realign the system of educational objectives, to develop local capacity at government levels to meet those objectives and to manage the physical, financial and human resources in the education system more equitably and efficiently. Georgia is investing a heavy sum in this project in the form of a 60.06 million USD loan provided by the World Bank. Loans have to be repaid sometime in the future. Thus the effective implementation of the agreed policies is of utmost importance. Otherwise the result will be merely a wealth of expensive documents and plans for which the Georgian people will have to pay sooner or later. In addition to the reforms, which we consider of critical importance, the effective implementation of public educational policy will require an increase in the low budgetary allocation to the schooling system. The state cannot escape its obligation of providing a critical mass of financial resources to the
public education system. As long as teachers’ salaries remain well below the poverty line and as long as salary arrears continue to exist, the best and brightest will leave for better paid professions. Quality will suffer. The incentives for a private system of tutors at secondary schools will remain very much alive. Not long after that, the vices observed at the entrance exams in tertiary institutions will find fertile ground in the system of secondary schools. In a similar vein, as long as the infrastructure in public schools continues to fall apart, and as long as the state is unable to provide
minimal educational materials and supplies, the morale of those in charge of preparing our youth to meet the challenges of modern life will remain unsurprisingly low. The flourishing informal economy, though it provides a lifeline to many that otherwise would be in dire conditions, works against the state’s capacity to collect sufficient resources to be able to finance the public education system. True, some niches can be occupied by the private sector responding to the demands of particular segments of the population that can pay for them. But the private sector cannot and will not provide universal education or a sufficient supply of it in, for example, rural areas of Georgia or to low income groups. As we mentioned at the beginning of this
report, the contents of the Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "Everyone has the right to education.... Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally
available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit" is to a great extent a public good."

Document(s): Open document

09.11.2000 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

IHF: Educational opportunities for men and women (boys and girls) ("Women 2000: Report on Georgia") [#10550], [ID 4638]

"T h e re are no legal provisions that discriminate between men and women re g a rding access to education.
In Georgia, the secondary educational system consists of three levels: elementary level (from 1st to 4th
forms); general level (from 5th to 9th forms); and upper level (from 10th to 12th forms). Education in the
first two levels is free, while there is an average fee of 10-15 GEL in the third level, depending on the
schools’ curricula. The municipality of Tbilisi assumed responsibility for funding the third level, therefore at
present the education at this level is free for residents of Tbilisi.
No difference in the number of boys and girls dropping out of school has been observed, however statistics
on this matter are not available.
Education in state higher educational institutions is free. The rural population has to pay for the third level
of education, but payment reductions and fee waivers can be granted on the basis of parents’ applications."

Document(s): Open document