The Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Mikheil Chkhenkeli, during his speech, introduced the steps taken in the direction of promoting the development of general education and future plans to the members of the parliament.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli focused special attention on the new initiatives that were implemented in the general educational institutions of Georgia for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: "The new school year started with important news at schools. According to the joint decision of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the Education and Science Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, children who turned 6 years old by September 30 were given the opportunity to register for the first grade. Taking into account the increased number of first-graders, the Ministry additionally ensured the equipping of schools with appropriate educational resources and equipment.

Owing to the initiative of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Gharibashvili, on the first day of school, the Georgian national anthem was played and the flag raised at all public schools.

From the 2022-2023 academic year, "History of Georgia" will be studied as an independent subject at general educational institutions. A group of historians reworked the standard of Georgian history, and the relevant textbook was drafted. As a result, young people at the secondary level will study the history of Georgia from ancient times to the present in depth.

Since the new academic year, students have been studying chess as a compulsory subject in the first grade. With the cooperation of the Ministry and the Chess Federation, the project involves more than 4,000 trained teachers who conduct chess lessons at schools. In addition, an appropriate electronic learning resource has been prepared, the development of which is taking place according to the progress of the students.

Additionally, owing to the initiative of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Gharibashvili, with the joint efforts of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Defence, the piloting of a new educational project "Military Case" has begun.

Moreover, the scope of the educational project "Defence and Security" has been expanded. In partnership with the Ministry of Defence of Georgia, 40 schools are currently involved in the project. Within the framework of the course, students gain knowledge about such important issues as: civil security, sources of possible threats, international missions, the defence system of Georgia and the activities of the defence forces."

The minister emphasized the importance of establishing a healthy life among students and noted that sports directions for elementary school students, the so-called "Tag Rugby", i.e. non-contact rugby, has been added. 4,000 trained sports teachers, using rugby elements with special exercises, ensure the correct physical development of each student.

As Mikheil Chkhenkeli stated, another important news is that the teaching of computer technologies has become mandatory for students of II-VI grades, and programming elements will be studied at schools from the elementary stage, which ensures the development and strengthening of algorithmic thinking among students.

According to the minister, in order to promote the use of the English language from the 2022-2023 school year, the V-VI grade students of the 50 pilot schools will additionally use the bilingual mathematics textbooks of Macmillan publishing house, along with the written textbook. Within the framework of the pilot program, more than 60 English-speaking mathematics teachers were trained. The project involves integrating a learning management system into the learning process, allowing teachers and students to electronically manage their own profiles and track progress.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli also spoke about promoting the implementation of project-based teaching in schools. According to him, in 2022, compulsory projects in art and music were added to the secondary level. The mentioned approach will contribute to the development of creativity and critical thinking among students. As the minister mentioned, project-based teaching is also carried out in the direction of civic education, and the selection of a project in each subject is done in agreement with the students, taking into account their interests.

It is important that many projects are implemented in the direction of supporting non-formal education. Among them, according to Mikheil Chkhenkeli, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the youth camps of students were renewed and by 2023, the scale of the mentioned initiative will be expanded even more.

As for the unique project "First Channel Education" created by the cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the Public Broadcaster, it should be noted that by 2023 the program of the mentioned TV channel will be updated and will be focused on offering even more educational programs to the public.

In his speech, Mikheil Chkhenkeli emphasized the success of Georgian students at the international educational Olympiads and noted that their competitiveness in the international arena is increasing every year. According to him, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia continues to implement various supporting projects in order to promote students. In this regard, it should be noted that with the support of the Ministry and the Embassy of the United States of America and the organization of the Millennium Challenge Fund, a Millennium Innovation Competition is held for schoolchildren every year, which serves to promote modern technologists, engineers and inventors. The students who won the first place in this competition visit the NASA summer camp in the USA.

It should be noted that in order to provide psycho-social and emotional support to students, the social component is being strengthened in schools. The activities of social workers and psychologists in the educational system contribute to the elimination of factors hindering the involvement of students in educational processes. The number of social workers and resource officers in the system is gradually increasing. From the new academic year, 85 more public schools have an educational institution trustee. Also, the number of social workers in educational institutions is increasing, providing necessary social services to schoolchildren, their parents, teachers and representatives of educational institutions. By the end of the 2022-2023 school year, the number of social workers in the education system will increase even more.