The price of education is increasing every year parallel to the increase of product and oil prices in Georgia. Parents, interested in their children’s futures, complain that they are forced to make their children quit extra-curricular activities such as dancing, music or art lessons, sports or foreign language tutoring.
“I’m not busy with anything at all,” screams Luca, 7. “I like boxing and music, also swimming very much, but mom says I have to wait. At the moment we can’t afford it.”
He is the second child in that family, where only the father works regularly. His sister is in 10th grade. According to their mother, the only thing the family can afford at the moment is for their daughter to have Skills and Mathematics tutoring.
“She always danced very well, since childhood. But two years ago, when Luka went to school expenses increased. As a result she doesn’t go to dance school any more. Every year it becomes harder to invest money in the children’s education. We can only afford Skills and Mathematics at 150 GEL, or 90 USD per month. A tutor for the English language is also badly needed, but we couldn’t afford an additional 60 USD this year, though we paid 45 USD for an English tutor last year. How much will it be next year, nobody knows,” said Nino, mother of the two children.
Inga, 35, recalls the time when her daughter Anna studied at primary school. She used to go to music, art and speech lessons. The total sum the family paid for everything was 15 USD per month. These days tuition at the state music school is 20-25 USD. Now 15 year-old Anna, like Luca’s sister goes to mathematics only and pays 40 USD for that a month.
The family with two children calculated that if one child goes to dance and music school, to tutors of English and mathematics, as well as sport e.g. swimming, which is very good for a child’s health, the monthly fees would be 235 USD per child. Perhaps in the case of a younger child – 60 USD cheaper. The same activities cost 6-20 USD less for younger children.
According to the National Statistics of Georgia, average monthly nominal salary increased since 2004 from 155 GEL before 2009 to 555 GEL. Statistics of the monthly salary show that a person with a nominal salary of 387 GEL spends most of his income – 167 GEL, on household products, drinks and cigarettes, 46 GEL goes on taxes and the rest is spent on other needs.
“In the average family, where only one member works, it’s impossible to pay even 300 GEL on one child’s education. What’s more we have to buy books. Their prices run from 70 to around 160 GEL depending on the school year,” added Nino.
Last year the President of Georgia announced that starting from 2011 Georgian students would not be able to receive a diploma without knowing the English language. Corresponding to this statement, in the framework of the project Teach and Learn with Georgia, 1,000 foreign teachers arrived from the USA, Canada and European countries. The teachers were distributed throughout the country’s public schools, where they teach the schoolchildren the English language together with the local teachers. As the Government said the main goal of the project was for schoolchildren to improve their English by people-to-people communication.
“There isn’t a foreign teacher at the school where my daughter goes,” said Inga.
If I had stable social conditions I would send my daughter abroad for several years. As I see the level of education there is much higher. They regard education more seriously, even students are harder working than in Georgia.”
Georgia isn’t the only exception where tuition fees are an issue for average income families.
“Education comes in all shapes and sizes and is something one should outgrow. Parents–provided they don’t earn too much–can claim a 2,500 USD per child American Opportunity Tax Credit for their undergraduate college student children,” reported Forbes in one of its recent editions.
What is the definition of education? According to Educational Philosophy different people have different ways in which they define education. Some believe that education can only be learned in state-run schools, colleges and universities.
Others may believe that education is simply life, and that we must learn every aspect of life as we grow. There are some people who have never received full-time education in any sort of school at all, but have learned the family ways, ie: gone into a trade that maybe has been passed down from one generation to the next.
Kate, 27, a young mother of two sons considers a university degree necessary for her children. She mentions that preparation for college or university education starts from the very beginning, when a child first enters school.
“I think a parent is obliged to invest in their child’s education. My son enters first grade this year. We will certainly hire an English language tutor and make subscribe to swimming lessons. I’ll observe his abilities and will help to develop his interests as much as possible,” said Kate.
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