March 7, 2008
Rustavi 2

Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia, met the school teachers in the State Chancellery on Friday and spoke about the planned changes in the education system of the country.

The president promised the teachers to introduce considerable social benefits. According to him, by the first half of the year, the salaries for the teachers would increase and they would not be rallied 25% tax. Teachers of public and private schools would be given vouchers for social benefits and a practice of one-year employment contracts for the teachers would be abolished.

Mikheil Saakashvili also spoke about the practice of selection of schools for would-be school principles upon the lottery principle. According to him, the `unclear rule` of selection of positions for appointment of school principles would be abandoned. The schools would not need licenses, but they would be subjected to accreditation aimed at their inspection.

The president also charged the Minister of Education, who was attending the meeting, with a task to do his best in order to create incentives for representatives of various ethnic groups living in Georgia so that they preferred to get high education in Georgia and not to leave for other countries.