The President of Georgia met with the 150 teachers participating in the program “Georgian Language for Future Success.” Mikheil Saakashvili assessed the results of the program initiated for the new school year. During the meeting, the Head of State spoke about the importance of teaching the Georgian language to our national minorities and also drew attention to the fact that aside from a tremendous experience, involvement of the youth in this program will give them opportunities for future advancement.

“When I met some of you I said that you are the ambassadors of Georgian statehood. Today, Georgia does not have a goal larger than integration of the representatives of various ethnic groups, helping them understand that they are part of a unified state, and involving them in general state processes. We are a small nation despite the positive migration balance and increased birth rate of late. We should create an opportunity for everyone living in Georgia to be part of our country” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Head of State called them idealists and noted that all directions are open for such idealists. He also spoke about the new projects in the education sphere and the priorities of the government in this area.

“Next year you will be joined by a large group of idealists. Many of teachers from the USA, Australia, and New Zealand have arrived here, who are working without a salary. I am not surprised by this, because we also have idealists in Georgia, even with more sparkle in their eyes that are more motivated and more special. Somebody may get angry when I say this, but you are truly the best Georgians – you have left everything behind and you are here now. You went to a completely unknown environment…you probably experienced discomfort, but you know why you are doing this. This is real sacrifice. Such Georgians always existed, but these are Georgians who have grown up in the climate of the “Rose Revolution.” They sense the new Georgia, which means that they won’t return us back to the Soviet Union. A new Georgia has been born, one which is based on different ideals and has a completely different motivation” – noted the President.

Mikheil Saakashvili later awarded the members of the national team of students that have won two gold and one bronze medal at the Shumen international Olympyad in Bulgaria with iPads. The President awarded an 11^th grader Jimsher Skhirtladze, a 10^th grader Nika Nadiradze, and Nikoloz Svanidze for their achievements in the IT sphere. The Head of State congratulated them on the victory and wished them advancement. According to him, the directions of natural sciences and engineering are a top priority for the country and the Ministry of Education and Science has created new programs specifically for this.

“As it seems, information technologies have great prospect in Georgia. You know that we built the first “Intel” factory in our country. This facility produces computers which are marked “Made in Georgia”. These computers supply schools where you are studing. We have the prospect of replacing the parts in these computers with parts made in Georgia. We are also working on gradually opening the Batumi University of Technologies. We are also working on improving the existing majors and generally developing the engineering and IT majors. We will also encourage learning math, physics, and chemistry at the secondary schools” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia has been implementing the program “Georgian Language for Future Success” initiated by the President of Georgia, since September, 2011. Any citizen of Georgia who has a bachelor’s degree and to whom Georgian is a native language can participate in the program. The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia will finance master’s degrees through 100% state grants for the participants, who teach for at least one academic year at a non-Georgian language school. 150 persons are already involved in the program living with local families and also teaching these families the Georgian language. The number of participants in the program will reach 500 before the end of the academic year.