School graduation exams abolished in Georgia

The Parliament of Georgia approved amendments to the law “On General Education” in the third reading. Namely, the abolition of final schools exams in the country. This initiative was supported by 80 deputies, eight parliamentarians opposed, according to the Georgian First Channel.

This draft-bill, proposed by the Georgian government, was put to the vote again, since on April 5 at a meeting of parliament it did not receive the required number of votes. 

Earlier, Georgian school-leavers passed final exams in two stages: at 11 and 12 classes. After the amendments to the law “On General Education”, in order to obtain a diploma, graduates will need to have positive marks above 5 points in a 10-grade system in all subjects.

In addition, individuals who, prior to the beginning of the 2018–2019 school year, overcame the middle level of general education, but did not participate in the school graduation examinations, are exempt from passing the school graduation examinations. This will also affect students who, prior to the beginning of the 2018–2019 school year, overcame the middle level of general education, participated in the graduation exams, but did not receive the positive marks required to obtain a certificate.

The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia stated that the abolition of graduation exams should strengthen the school role in the education system. At the same time, the Ministry added that during the development of the new rules all the questions that had been raised in the last few years were taken into account. Such measures have been taken to ensure that more attention is paid to the study process, and not to the examination procedure.