PM Bakhtadze: Salaries of Teachers to Increase

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that the profession of a teacher should be one of the most prestigious and high-paid jobs in the country.

The PM made the statement in his interview with Imedi TV while commenting on the data of the National Statistics Office (Geostat), which reads that salaries are the lowest in the education field.

Geostat said that the average salary of the teacher was GEL 548 in 2017, and in 2018 it was slightly increased.

“One of the main consequences of our reform should be the fact that the profession of teachers is one of the highest paid and prestigious in Georgia,” Bakhtadze said.

The PM noted that according to the plan, the salary that the teacher should be between 1500 and 1800 GEL.

“It means that we will increase the average salary of teachers three times,” he said but did not specify when the salaries will be increased.

Mamuka Bakhtadze also talked about the international experience and named the successful example of Japan, which has implemented significant reforms in pre-school education.

"Pre-school education is a very sensitive topic. Unfortunately, pre-school education in Georgia was not part of a unified education system, which is a big mistake. We will rectify this because opening the child's talent and potential in the preschool age is vital,” he said.

The PM said that as for the school education model, Georgia takes an example from Finland.

“In professional education, we have the main focus of German, as well as Swiss and Austrian experience because our initiative should provide instant employment and vocational education has a decisive role in this,” he said.

As for the Geostat data about the salaries, it reads that in the IV quarter of the 2018 year the average monthly earnings in Georgia increased by 61.1 GEL compared to the IV quarter of the previous year and amounted to 1202 GEL.