More money for Georgian teachers, says PM

Raising the country’s education system and improving the quality of teachers desperately needs to be addressed, and to do this, the Government will introduce higher salaries to teachers who succeed.

Today Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met local teachers and discussed the current learning environment, educational reforms and his idea to raise teachers’ salaries.

The Georgian leader said steps need to be taken to bring Georgia’s education system in line with higher European standards – as per agreed when the country signed the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU) in June.

"In order to fully integrate with the European educational sphere, we have to improve the level of our education as fast as possible,” Garibashvili said.

He discussed the Government’s new initiative to increase teachers’ salaries. The PM said each teacher would receive a salary based on their individual achievements, which would guarantee teachers to be motivated.

"Only highly qualified and motivated teachers can give the best education to a child,” Garibashvili said.

When speaking with the education professionals, Garibashvili mentioned the various changes undertaken in the country since 2012.

"As a result of reforms implemented by us, annual expenses for general education have been reduced by 60 percent for each family. It’s already the second year the state provides pupils with school books, which removes a huge burden from families,” the PM said.

He noted more than 1000 schools had recently been renovated and about 50,000 pupils in rural areas were provided with school transport.

The PM said education was among the country’s top priorities and teachers’ salaries would keep increasing in 2016 and 2017 too.