At the presentation of the first stage of Kutaisi rehabilitation project, Mikheil Saakashvili met the teachers and spoke with them about the rehabilitation system in the education sphere:
"Greetings!
The teachers usually are very busy on workdays, this is why I apologize for inviting you here today.
Today we are opening the historic part of Kutaisi. This is one tenth of what is planned to be done here.
We will make Kutaisi look like it was in it's best epoch.
When you go round this school, it is impossible not to get filled with incredible feelings.
You will guess how big is tradition and culture of Kutaisi.
All Georgian history is concentrated here.
We think a lot about teachers' problems, this is a problem of every parent, who wants their children to have better education.
The society has serious pretensions towards the education system, the quality of Georgian school children is not adequate to those standards, we want.
You know this better then me, but this is not your fault.
This is the fault of the system and the social sphere, the education system in Georgia was considered to be a second, or third level priority among the state priorities.
We have a lot of clever and hardworking teachers, including this school.
We have to build a system where your work will be appreciated and we will be given a chance to create better conditions in the education system to improve the qualification and working conditions.
We have started to work more in this sphere, we have raised the teachers' salaries by 33 percent, annulled a-year-contracts, added the 13th salary, gave insurances to the teachers and the technical personnel.
You know that we paid great attention to the reconstruction of the school buildings. We were doing it because some schools were on the edge of being destroyed. This was a compulsory action.
I know it pretty well, that in the education school buildings represent the form and the teachers - represent the content.
Our mission is to continue the rehabilitation of school buildings, we are not going to refuse it, despite the world economic crises.
At the same time we will continue to improve the social conditions.
Next year we are going to increase the insurance package, the teachers' salaries will be increased by 25 laris from January 1 and then from September 1.
Besides we will task to develop a package, according to which the income will be raised annually for teachers.
Every year the salary will be raised by 50 laris, and in 2012 your salary will be raised by 250 laris.
We will continue equipping the schools, we will spend more money on improving teachers' qualification.
I task the government to reconstruct the school buildings and equip them on the European level in Samegrelo and Shida Kartli.
Our aim is to make you feel better, have better conditions, more stimulus and work better.
We have to implement correct methods together with you.
We have done a lot in the education system, we have brought in exam, that puts a person in the socially equal conditions, there is no longer any corruption.
Some other steps must follow, on the one hand it is good to increase the self governance in schools, on the other hand it is necessary to have a control over the standards.
There are no schools in the world without control.
We do not need reforms, for the reforms' sake.
We need reforms to increase the level of education and the teachers' living conditions.
A lot has been done in the education system, but more should be done.
In the result we want to receive good quality.
The result will be a more educated youth, a more appreciated teacher and competitive students.
It is very good that we will again have school Olympiads, a medal is also very important, it gives appreciation to the person.
A child must know that if he studies well, he will find his place in life, if he doesn't study well, he will find himself on the lowest level. Everything comes from school.
There should always be talks about the priority of the education from the government.
However hard the life might be, whatever are the economic problems, if we invest money in the school, this means that we will invest in our future.
I opened two ski-schools in Adjara yesterday, a former MP Adamia collects the equipment for children around Georgia and opens schools for children, he brings the gear as well.
he gives the children a chance to learn skiing, earlier this was the privilege of the center. When this sport appears somewhere in the poor villages of Adjara, it means that the hope is born.
Chogovadze took an obligation, that he would serve Imereti, this should be welcomed, he was almost assigned to be a prosecutor, but I did not do it", stated the President of Georgia.
Communications Office
of the President of Georgia