The President of Georgia met the schoolteachers at the State Chancellery. The education sphere representatives arrived from all the regions of Georgia. The teachers spoke about the existing problems at school and about the ways to solve them. At the end of the meeting the President of Georgia made a final speech and promised the teachers to arrange the existing problems.

"Public school is a very fragile structure. Alongside with positive consequences brought by the educational reform, there are many specific concerns and we have to work jointly to solve them. We want to have a high quality education... "You are elite of our society, You are the elite which create new Georgia! - the President addressed the audience.

Mikheil Saakashvili noted that reconstructed and contemporary standard facilities and schools equipped with the most modern equipment will not give us any results, if our teachers are not fully supported. He touched attestation issue as well, and said, that instead of attestation they must be retrained and their qualification needs to be increased. "Attestation must not serve as means of punishing a teacher" - he added.

The President spoke about the elimination of school licenses and noted that, the accreditation of schools must be performed in automatic regime.

He said that he planned to restore the practice of distributing the so called thirteenth salary to teachers. As Mikheil Saakashvili stated we should not have poor teachers. Mikheil Saakashvili said that they must remove the practice of signing the one year contracts at schools - "the teachers are at school for indefinite time and if teachers want to retire, they should have proper pensions. We should offer the teachers such packages, that they shouldn't starve. Your profession must be secured" - noted the President of Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili noted that many artificial barriers and limitations must be removed. He also criticized the practice of selecting school principals at random.

"It is called lot because the fortune could turn to you only once in a while. This was an unknown system - you are playing with the fortune of a man, using an unidentified selection system" - he stated.

The President gave the Minister of Education Gia Nodia several emergency tasks to perform. Specifically, the paid annual leave for teachers should again become 48 days instead of the current 24, which he called "stupidity".

He also underlined the fact, that many factors create obstacles for the young generation to start working at schools. He said all these barriers should be removed. The procedures for starting a teacher's job should be simplified and young people must have motivation for doing it.

Mikheil Saakashvili noted that certain mechanisms of appreciation must be worked out to mark the enthusiasm and patriotism in the educational system, in order to achieve a very high quality education in the country. He at the same time pointed that the vouchers, which represent a certain package for services and are distributed to the teachers, must be given to every person working in the educational system, both in public and in private schools.

Mikheil Saakashvili spoke about the necessity of encouragement at schools.

"I would like to ask you to prepare the Presidential Decree on the restoration of gold and silver medals at schools" - this task was given to the Minister of Education. Due to his words there should exist a definite system for encouraging and stimulating the school children. There may be no privileges for gold or silver medalists to colleges and universities, but it is a good tool for a schoolchild to show the best qualities.

Mikheil Saakashvili focused on the fact that the quantity of the Olympiads are reduced.

"We must increase the quantity of Olympiads not only among schoolchildren, but among the teachers as well. I want to establish the President's scholarship for the best teacher. The best teachers must be selected according to the projects presented in specific year and specific month" - stated the President.

During the meeting Mikheil Saakashvili spoke about bringing the measures of security into the schools as well. He said that the facts of heavy crime behavior increased among the schoolchildren lately.

"We should not bring the police system and black lists, but we should establish order at schools so, that the parents shouldn't be afraid to let their children go to schools".

The President spoke about the United National Examinations as well. He noted that, this was one of the most successful projects, for which he thanked the former leadership of the education system.

"This was the big success achieved in my first term" - said the President. He mentioned that exams should be simplified for the national minorities and he thinks that this is necessary.

"We can't request the national minorities to know the Georgian language and literature, the way we require from Georgians. Today they go to Erevan from Akhalkalaki and to Baku from Marneuli to get education. These people should come to Georgia and get their education in Georgia. We must simplify the tests on skills. Part of these subjects must be passed in their languages. Georgian exams must be simplified. We must attract these people step-by-step and not loose them" - stated Mikheil Saakashvili.

The president gave the task of simplifying the test to Gia Nodia. He considers it necessary, because the number of national majorities are decreasing in Universities step-by-step, and this is a step backwards.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia