The Republic of Georgia, forced into the USSR in 1921, has been independent since 1991. Bordering the Black Sea, it has an extended border with Russia, as well as bordering Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It can be geopolitically considered as part of Europe or the Middle East, or both. Its population of almost five million is primarily urban (60.7%), with 18% of the country Russian-occupied. Many disadvantaged people or ones living in rural areas have challenges accession education in Georgia.

The Education System in Georgia

There are three levels of general education in Georgia: Primary beginning at age 6 (grades 1-6), basic (7-10) and secondary (11-12). Primary and basic are compulsory. The Ministry of Education, Science and Youth has developed a National Curriculum that is followed by both public and private institutions. Successful completion of primary and basic education allows students to go on to general secondary or basic vocational education. Higher education institutions include colleges (offering bachelor’s programs only), universities (bachelor’s to doctoral, including research) and “other.”

OECD Evaluation and Assessment

A 2019 review by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD) and UNICEF, conducted at the request of, and in partnership with, Georgia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, reported the country’s “remarkable progress in expanding access to education and improving outcomes,” but concluded that “the majority of children in Georgia still leave school without having acquired the basic competencies they need to compete in the 21st century economy.” Those seen at greatest risk were rural students, students with a national minority background and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

OECD’s recommended areas for improvement included student assessment (to accurately identify student performance), teacher appraisal (training teachers to provide better student support) and school and system evaluation (more oversight and resources for schools and the development of research capacity and data tools for the system as a whole).

Achieving Quality Education

With an overall United Nations Sustainable Development Goal achievement score of 73.67/100 in 2025, Georgia ranks 59th out of the 167 countries ranked. On SDG 4, Quality Education, achievement is considered to be “stagnating,” with significant challenges remaining. Pre-primary organized learning is indicated to have major challenges, along with significant challenges in net primary enrollment, which is trending lower. Lower secondary completion rate and literacy rate have achieved the SDG, although the former is stagnating, while literacy, at almost 100%, has trended upwards.

Unified National Strategy: First Action Plan

In August 2022, the Government of Georgia adopted the Unified National Strategy of Education and Science of Georgia for 2022-2030, which comprised the unified plan for 2020 and a respective action plan for 2022-2024. The goal of the Unified National Strategy is to transform Georgia’s education system and accelerate the fulfillment of SDG 4.

This strategy process built on the 2022 initiatives of the U.N.’s Transforming Education Summit, convened to “[elevate] education to the top of the global political agenda . . . to recover pandemic-related learning losses and . . . transform education in a rapidly changing world.”

Georgia’s Unified National Strategy is grounded in three pillars: quality, equity and good governance, from preschool education to science, technology and innovation. Goals include quality, relevance, equity, inclusion and diversity. To enable success, Georgia committed to an increase of up to 6% of GDP by 2030 in public expenditures for education and science. A “rigorous” reporting process was required to track progress, identify and address bottlenecks and revise and readjust as needed.

Unified National Strategy: Second Action Plan

In July 2025, OECD reported an initial draft of the 2025-2027 Sectoral Action Plan of the Strategy. This would serve as a roadmap of priorities, which included raising awareness of the achievements and contributions to science and research by women, promoting the participation of women in such activities and supporting the internationalization of Georgia’s research, including its involvement in the European Open Science Cloud.

Reform and the Future

Over the past three years since Georgia initiated the Unified National Strategy, the country has implemented many educational system reforms. Priorities include bilingual pre-schooling, STEAM education that focuses on both creative and analytical skills, minority student enrollment in higher education and participation of girls and young women in STEM fields. The scope of reform is broad, and the targets are many. 

Over the last several decades, Georgia has moved from a Russian-influenced education system to a system with challenges, but more recently to a system with a strong strategy for providing Georgians with the education and skills to thrive now and in the changing future.

– Staff Reports

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