The public approve of the education reforms

The ACT Marketing and Consulting Company has conducted an opinion poll which asked the Georgian public about the quality and significance of education and the recent education reforms in Georgia. About 1,200 people aged from 16 to 70 were interviewed at random in Tbilisi (500), Batumi (200), Kutaisi (200) and other cities (the remaining 300).

The majority of respondents stated that education is more influential than acquaintances and money in getting a job. About 56% of Tbilisi respondents and 46% of respondents generally said this. The majority of respondents (61%) think that the importance of education in gaining employment and in Georgian households has increased over the last five years. Only 3% consider that its significance has decreased.

The attitude of respondents to the education reforms implemented in recent years is also positive. About 36% considered that they have improved the quality of education, 39% that the education reforms are more or less positive, and only 23% had a negative attitude towards the reforms.

Those questioned were also asked whether conducting successful education reforms would affect the electoral preferences of the population and if the public's assessment of the reforms partly determined political priorities. About 42% of respondents considered that successful education reforms would affect the outcome of elections, 30 % thought otherwise and about 29% did not have a definite opinion on this.