To prevent the spread of Coronavirus, the Prime Minister-led Interagency Coordination Council has determined to extend the delay of the educational process. To this end, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia is strengthening the means of distance learning. Notably, skills, abilities and technical competencies acquired by the New School Model support groups are vital in this process.

Undoubtedly, schools involved in the "New School Model" were prepared to meet the challenges facing the general education system. As a result of the immense work accomplished by the support groups, elementary school teachers are now equipped with the necessary knowledge of the Microsoft Office 365 product line, thus enabling them to seamlessly navigate the digital technology space.

Furthermore, all students currently involved in the New School Model, are now charged to perform complex tasks that require designing creative products. Complex assignments are appealing to any student, as children are required to concentrate on a subject matter, thus acquiring deep subject knowledge. This process enables their self-actualization.

Complex assignments and mastering the IT, solves two major problems in the current crisis: students left out of the classroom continue to enrich their knowledge-experience in the comfort of their home environment; and during the remote lessons, they are able to share their work, thoughts and ideas with each other and receive much needed feedback from the teachers.

Considering the experience of schools participating in a New School Model, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports decided that the members of these support groups will actively work with schools involved in the reform, and improve the experience of other schools with the distance learning practices. Namely, curriculum development and implementation experts, their assistants, technology experts and leadership specialists:

• Will provide facilitation to teachers involved in distance learning;
• Will digitalize complex tasks and create a digital task bank, which will be publicly published on the EL.ge portal. Based on the experience gained, the thematic units of the school curriculum will be improved;
• Develop methodological guidelines by observing distance learning practices;
• Assist teachers in developing both contextual and technical structures of electronic assessment by using tools developed within the new school model.