2018-05-07
Greetings, dear friends!
I am especially excited to see young people at this important meeting. Any plan related to education and the future of the system of education must be first of all discussed and coordinated with youth.
Youth engagement in the country's building is very important. Young people have a different vision, bold ideas, and a different take on the future, and equally bold and individual decision-making skills, all of which is very important for the country's building. Your engagement is absolutely necessary and inevitable. I would like to thank the Ministry of Education, especially Minister of Education and Science Mikheil Chkhenkeli, for presenting a very interesting plan. They have worked hard on this plan. We have a deep understanding of the fact that the country's progress and stability, democratic development, and the people's wellbeing can only stem from knowledge and education.
That is exactly why the Government's four-point agenda, which is designed to ensure the country's rapid development and our population's prosperity, features education as its number one priority.
It is our goal to ensure that the system of education focuses on the demands of the market and serves as the main driver behind economic progress. Most importantly, we need, and we are creating, a system of education targeting long-term prospects.
The first challenge we encountered in the very first years after coming to power was related to universal access to education. To solve this problem-we may say with all assuredness-we have carried out a number of measures, implemented special projects, and adopted relevant legislative acts. Of course, there is work to do in the area of access to education, but today's major challenge facing the system of education is ensuring quality at every level of education.
At the same time, we are promoting the principle of lifelong learning.
We are overhauling our higher education, support the development of demanded disciplines and vocations, and we have ushered in new, upgraded authorization and accreditation standards, and a new model for financing state universities is being developed in cooperation with the World Bank.
Every entrant, student, and parent in Georgia, and society as a whole, must rest assured that stat-authorized schools of higher education provide their students with international level education meeting international standards.
As you know, vocational education is one of the top priority directions under the education reform. In cooperation with the private sector and international partners, we are adopting a very successful model of vocational education. On one hand, vocational education will focus on international market standards. On the other hand, it will suit the needs of individual regions. The new draft law on vocational education has already been developed to ensure the alignment and compatibility of Georgia's system of vocational education with the unified European educational environment. Vocational colleges are already being established under schools of higher education or private companies. As yearly as the next year, cooperation is planned to be launched with European vocational colleges to enable us to develop exchange programs.
As our goal for the development of middle school-level education we aim to raise generations with creative thinking and a high level of civic awareness, to prepare them for subsequent educational levels and life in general. A school is an extremely important place where human development takes place. Therefore, we have much work to accomplish in schools, and we absolutely must take well planned consistent steps.
In addition, one of our ultimate goals to put in place a safe environment free from violence in schools and the system of education in general. Concrete steps are being taken in this direction as well. Different agencies have developed a joint draft of legislative amendments. Psychologists and parents will be more actively involved in the school process, and a project for active communication with students has also started.
You agree that we are facing very important tasks, which require enormous effort from our Government. At the same time, all this requires maximal public activity. It is our duty not only to explain to the public the essence of the implemented changes and the action plan, but also to maintain constant public debates in order to establish a system of education that will serve every citizen of our country as a firm support. I am convinced that we will surely achieve great success in this extremely responsible cause.
Thank you very much for attention!
Please accept my sincere wishes for success, especially the youth present here today!