Free school books for half a million Georgian pupils

More than a half million children in Georgia will receive free school books for the upcoming academic year.

Receiving books for free will remove "a significant burden” off the shoulders of Georgian families, said the country’s Education Minister Tamar Sanikidze at a special press conference today.

This year the state will invest 12-13 million GEL to cover the cost of the books – slightly less than the 18 million GEL that was spent on the project last year.

Sanikidze explained the state would only print 65 percent of all needed books this year, as the remaining 35 percent of books printed last year were still in a good shape and pupils would reuse them.

This year a new technology will be used to print the books, which will make the paper lighter and easer to children to carry, the Minister noted.

The free school book scheme was implemented last year when the Education Ministry was headed by the now-President Giorgi Margvelashvili.