On June 25, 2012 was held the meeting of the Georgian Government. The agenda included 60 items.
Before the meeting started, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri, talked about vocational education program. We present the Prime Minister's speech:
"Good day. Another wave of special funding program has been started, which we have introduced this year. This is about retraining courses of vocational schools. The first wave was in March-April, and the second wave is under way and will be completed on July 1. The third wave will start in September.
This (program) is for all persons, who search for jobs, who would like to acquire professions and take training courses. Any person can go to special offices of the Ministry of Education, receive a GEL 1,000 voucher and then chose any vocational school where he/she would like to be trained. This is one of the most important programs, which we have introduced this year to reduce unemployment, to add new workforce to the economic. The first wave was successful.
1,500 vouchers will be issued till July 1 and the rest of students, i.e. who is not able to get the voucher, will be waiting and we will distribute the rest of the vouchers in September. This is quite a successful program. There are 18 schools within Georgia and three others will be opened additionally by September. Apart from this, private sector has activated and there will be private vocational schools as well, which is important for economic development. I would like to call on every person who whishes to find a job and be retrained, to get registered at special offices of the Ministry of Education till September 1.
Dima and I visited one of such centers a few days ago. This is arranged quite well and staffed by high level specialists. 60-70% of its graduates find jobs in just a month after finishing. This is quite a high figure and this 70% is counted for the first month of finishing the courses.
We have quite a successful initiative. We may allocate more sums in this direction.
Apart from this, we have been prepared for Unified National Examinations. They will start this week, on June 28 and will last almost for whole July. 35 thousand people are registered for the Unified National Examinations. Simultaneously, there will be teachers' certification exams, for which 39 thousand teachers are registered. I would like to wish success to everyone."
Prime Minister's Press Service