There are still a lot of challenges connected to education in Georgia and we try to overcome them. These issues have become even more problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Let me pinpoint several directions, which, to my mind, are crucial during the educational process.

First is the improvement of preschool and school infrastructure. I strongly believe that primary/basic conditions and a healthy social environment are what every child deserves unconditionally. In this regard, we have constant renewal processes happening throughout the country and, on the example of my majority district, I can freely say there are only several schools left that need to be rehabilitated and thus we will finish the full renovation-rehabilitation of school infrastructure.

Second is creating necessary resources and educational spaces that, on the one hand, will encourage the development of children’s skills and, on the other hand, boost their general knowledge. It should be noted that the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia is actively working on improving the quality of preschool education and is implementing various programs that help students develop their 21st-century skills and prepare them for life.

Third is promoting non-formal education for the young generation, making targeted use of their capabilities and their further development. For this reason, we are in the process of implementing a 3rd generation national curriculum, which is based on Estonian and Finnish experiences. The curriculum focuses on new teaching methodologies and encourages critical and complex thinking among students. This will help children develop as future citizens, to realize their potential in any field of their interest.

It should also be noted that I, as an MP, always try to support the youth and help them develop. This is why we have been opening debate clubs in Kakheti public schools. They have undoubtedly contributed to the development of teachers’ competencies, as well as students’ critical thinking skills.

Moreover, with the financial support of the World Bank, we managed to build a regional Teck Park in Gurjaani Municipality, which, during its 1.5 years of existence, has brought significant changes to the region- new startups have been started, which have received different grants for innovative entrepreneurship. Even more, it has attracted the interest of the youth and now they already see their future careers in technology.

The Teck Park offers young people free working spaces, the Internet, a wide variety of projects- hackathons, pre-acceleration programs, and free training ranging from ICT to Lego robotics and electronics. Even more, as you might already know, companies in the global market, such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc., often look for employees willing to work remotely. Exactly for this reason, we have additionally introduced high-tech education for schoolchildren, which will train hundreds of teenagers completely free of charge, and as a result, they will have the opportunity, regardless of their social status, to receive an education that will be highly competitive and will give them an opportunity to work in Amazon, for instance.

As well as this, with the support of the Bank of Georgia, we have started to strengthen the fields of Physics and Mathematics in public schools and encourage STEM education, which I believe, will turn Georgia into a regional IT hub in the future.

I am extremely pleased that this process has already started and a rising dynamics can be observed as there are more and more IT companies entering our country and we can already offer them the best business environment and professional human resources.

At the same time, we are in the process of updating the youth policy document. We are determined to overcome every existing challenge for the youth through their direct involvement.

Our goal is to fully encourage the development of the younger generation, which will be based on innovative, inclusive and high-quality education. As a result, we will develop a human capital, which, in its part, will reduce the gap between the learning outcomes and labour market expectations in terms of staff qualifications.

I would like to especially thank the World Bank Group for their constant financial support. Without your help, achieving these results and success would have been indeed very difficult and time-consuming.