Tamar Makharashvili has been appointed as the First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia. The First Deputy Minister will oversee the Department of Preschool Education and General Education, as well as the National Center for Teacher Professional Development and the Resource Officer Service.
Prior to this position, since 2019, Tamar Makharashvili worked as the Director of the National Center for Education Quality Development of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. Before this, she held the position of Deputy Director for years; Was the director of the State Care Agency of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia; Head of the Public Relations Service of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia; Adviser to the Minister of Culture, Monument Protection and Sports of Georgia; Deputy State Minister of Georgia for Diaspora Issues; Deputy Minister of Refugees and Accommodation of Georgia.
Tamar Makharashvili graduated with honours from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Oriental Studies, and was awarded the qualification of Orientalist-Philologist. She was a scholarship holder named after Giorgi Tsereteli. Moreover, she has
completed an internship at Har-Hatsofim University in Jerusalem, while passing TSU postgraduate course in Hebrew-Aramaic philology.
Tamar Makharashvili has published about 20 scientific publications in the main field of research since 1997, and has also taken courses in Sar Ha Aron, Israel, in the field of management in government agencies.
Tamar Makharashvili is the author of the "Mother Tongue" published in Hebrew, which, according to Iakob Gogebashvili, was created for Georgian Jews living in Israel.
As for the former First Deputy Minister, Ekaterine Dgebuadze, she will continue to work in the field of education at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), where in close cooperation with the Ministry she will lead the field of inclusive education.
Furthermore, there is a significant change in the field of vocational education. Last year, an innovative management system was introduced, recognized as one of the best practices by international organizations. Moreover, a Vocational Skills Agency was established jointly by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. From now on, the responsibility for creating and implementing vocational education policy will be shared by the public and private sectors.
Besides, the Public-Private Partnership Council has elected Tamar Kitiashvili, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, as the Director General of the Skills Agency for a five-year term. Since April 2021, during the initial stage of the Agency's development, Tamar Kitiashvili held the position of Director of the Agency.
The operation of the Professional Skills Agency will enter an active phase from 2022, which will require the mobilization of resources of both the public and private sectors, as well as international organizations and the formation of a team of professionals. Tamar Kitiashvili will resign from the position of Deputy Minister and will head the agency, taking into account the scale of the vocational education reform, as well as the new management model of the field.
Valerian Gobronidze, is also appointed as the the representative of the Ministry of Education and Science at the Supervisory Board of the Vocational Skills Agency, who will also act as the curator of vocational education.