Teaching is not a popular vocation in Georgia. Despite the continuing efforts, in interviews we conducted as part of the U.S. Embassy-funded Georgian Educational Advocacy Project, it is clear that teachers feel undervalued. As a tool to counteract this image of teachers and teaching, in 2017 an NGO, the Education Coalition (EFA), started the National Teacher Award.

Education was meant to be the means Georgia would achieve the civic integration of its ethnic minority communities. As Tamar Burduli discovered, there is still a long way to go.

The project is looking at the challenges of General Education System in Georgia. The main goal is to help ensure that teachers, parents and other stakeholders, particularly from socially vulnerable groups, can act as well-informed and committed supporters of Georgian educational reform. The project is funded by the Embassy of the US in Georgia.

The article by Tamar Burduli, Senior Researcher at GeoWel Research was published at Civil.ge. In March 2020, in response to the pandemic, Georgia’s 2000 schools closed their doors, and the country’s 600,000 students switched to online classes. Many of those schools remained closed for a whole academic year. While COVID-19’s effect on the economy, on