The Issue of Education in the Pre-election Program Documents of Political Parties (2020 - 2021)

Abstract

All public spheres of the modern world have faced the new Covid-19 reality, which creates problems for all fields, including the field of education. Even though online education was not a new phenomenon in the world, it was implemented in the Georgian educational space only in the spring semester of 2020. With the transition to online and hybrid learning, the traditional educational process faced a large-scale experiment, the country was not ready for a new challenge.

The paper aims to study the current situation in Georgia, and the attitude of the main political entities involved in the 2020-2021 election cycle of the parliamentary and local self-governments concerning the issue of education. Based on a review of existing official documents representing the Georgian reality and analyzing the existing challenges that the country faced during the pandemic.

Because of its relevance, the mentioned topic has a public character. Due to the reality created by Covid-19 in the field of education, to create a legal basis for a new form of education in Georgia, in June 2020, there was made a certain amendment in the Law on Education. Thus the Law on Education recognized distance learning as one of the forms of education.

Some requirements have been identified, such as infrastructure and electronic resources, virtual mobility, and others for the implementation of blended and online learning in the educational process. Accordingly, due to the urgency of the issue, the issue of education has always occupied an important place in the pre-election documents for all political forces. As for the mentioned period, it has become one of the main challenges in the country, including in party documents.