In Georgia, profession of teacher attracts very few youngsters

The National Centre of Assessments and Examinations has published statistics on the most demanded departments chosen by high school entrants in Georgia in this academic year. The most popular departments are of business and economy, law, international relations, sociology and information technologies. Only 0.8 percent of all the entrants plan to apply to pedagogical departments.

The study of the most popular professions was made also by the International Education Centre. "Among the 17 countries, where the polling was held, Georgia takes the 16th place by the popularity of the profession of teacher," said Manana Gurchumelidze, chair of the Free Trade Union of Teachers and Scientists of Georgia.

Irakliy Petriashvili, Chairman of the United Trade Unions of Georgia, believes that the trade of a teacher is not considered prestigious in Georgia today, because teachers have low salary. According to his story, 70 percent of teachers have salaries below the subsistence level.

"In the final school forms, children very seldom go to school; they are mainly trained by individual tutors for entrance to universities. We need a new reform of the education system with the aim to bring children back to schools," Mr Petriashvili said.