Only hotels were defined by the star principle in Tbilisi till the present. But now the school branding process is beginning. Soon one, two, three, four and five star schools will appear in Tbilisi.  Accordingly, it will be easier to choose schools for your children. One advantage of this process is producing the competitive environment which will have an influence on the quality of education. Leastways, authors hope so. Besides, Western well approved projects are going to be  introduced  at Georgian schools. One of them is Alumni, the club of gratitude. The Minister of Education and Science, Dimitri Shashkini talked about above mentioned and other innovations with Primetime.

Dimitri Shashkini:

As you know, around 2200  public and 200 private schools exist in Georgia. The branding process will support school development. The development naturally happens in the competitive environment. We will inform the society and parents will choose schools for their children themselves. Some attract an attention on school safety, while others prefer infrastructure and etc. This mechanism will encourage the competition between schools, which will follow the branding process.  So schools will start creating new ideas to attract the children.

What is maximum number of school stars?  

Our experts work on this issue currently. Supposedly, there will be five star system. The list of star awarding criteria will be created. Of course, individual approaches will exist for regional and Tbilisi schools.

Are you planning the pilot project, or the branding process will take place on one occasion?

Firstly, schools in Tbilisi will be involved in the branding  process  and supposedly, other school brandings will be carried out  through  the whole country in September.

Will the branding process  provoke artificial increase or decrease of schoolchildren number?

No, it will not happen. We have lever against this process. The limited number of schoolchildren for each school exists, so the schools cannot cross this level. The process will be strictly checked.

Can you name approximately the number of criteria the school will have to satisfy for receiving five stars?

The list will be quite large. You can find the latest information on our site at the end of February.

Who is the author of criteria, the Ministry, or experts are also involved in this process? 

The expert group also exists, but mainly schools principals and teachers are involved in this process. Each step is contracted with teachers from our side. Their opinions are very important for us. Only my ideas  cannot do anything. The concrete teacher may have more information about school necessities, than anybody else.

The Alumni club is one of the innovations  in the educational sphere. This method is very productive in the West. How do you think, will this project work in Georgia with the same success?

That is right, this program has the great success in USA, as well as in Europe. Some higher educational institutions are maintained only by the Alumni program.  The graduates in Europe call this club the Alumni. The name of this club will be the Gratitude Club in Georgian reality. Important periods of our lives are associated with schools. If you are successful and think that school took part in your achievements, you can help your school by this club.

It was understood that Alumni project meant  only  the financial support after President’s announcement…

No, this project means not only the financial support, but  also other interesting issues. For example, visiting classes and sharing the experience to the schoolchildren. The meetings will be informal (I think informal sounds not good, so let’s take it out). I mean, the financial component is not the only one. The sense of this project is to involve successful people in the process of school development. The school does not belong only to schoolchildren and teachers, it belongs to the whole society. The person, who spent there 11 years, must keep in touch with the school life. The child always needs the good example to understand the ways of success.

The teachers certification is beginning, can you name the starting date of this process?

The certification process will begin in July, 2010.  The pretest will be carried out in Kutaisi on 27, February. 500 voluntary teachers will take participation in the testing. This will be the pilot process, the competence level will be created in March and  the testing will be held in July. Teachers express positive opinions about this process. The certification is not the major goal. This is the mechanism to advance the qualification. Certified teachers will receive more salary, besides they will have an opportunity to work as a mentor-teachers, this also include prizes. I have not heard teachers’ opposite opinions about this process.

Though, the Chairman of Free Unions, Manana Gurchumalidze  expresses  the negative opinions  towards the Ministry all the time . . .

Two Free Unions struggle between each other and Ms. Manana’s steps are attempts to involve the Ministry in their rivalry. The government is not going to participate in this  process, the disagreement between the Free Unions is only their business. Contrary, the ministry asks them not to use  teachers’  status  for their goals. It is better for them to come to an agreement. The main goal of the Ministry is to improve the quality of education as well as return children at schools. We execute the order of our society. If society wishes the school to become the entertainment club, they can say and we will have a rest. The result cannot be achieved in one or two months in this field. The planned reform will be held in 2010-2011 years.

If I am not mistaken, innovations   also concern the textbooks. . .

Yes, you are right. The government was presenting the first graders with textbooks in the past. Why the government has to buy books to my first grader  daughter? Personally I and other people have not got such problem. So we have decided that only vulnerable group of schoolchildren will receive free textbooks. The secondary books basis will be created in the libraries. The textbook prices are also problematic. Publishers take some risks  in the prices as they do not know the number of sold books. So we will define the amount of necessary books. Accordingly the publishers risks will decrease and the prices will become more acceptable.