Distance Learning — Essence and Forms
Distance learning means conducting the educational process in a distance/electronic form or using other means of communication. It is carried out in two forms: synchronous communication — where the communication between sender and recipient of information takes place at the same time — and asynchronous communication — where that communication does not take place at the same time. A distance learning program is built in accordance with the requirements established by legislation for a general education program and/or for a subject or subject group contemplated by the national curriculum — distance delivery does not lower the quality set for the program.
The regulatory scheme is as follows: the decision on the admissibility of distance learning in Georgian general education institutions and on the period of its implementation, as well as on the institution that must use distance learning to deliver general education, is made by the minister through an individual administrative-legal act. The rules and conditions for conducting the educational process remotely and for assessing the results obtained are also approved by the minister — these detailed rules are governed by separate acts, and it is precisely those that must be consulted in a specific case.
Types of General Education Institutions
The ministry, taking into account the funding, the governance procedure, the structural units, the school study plan, state control, and the requirements for human resources — including for the director and teachers — determines the types of general education institutions. For a parent this has practical significance: a school's type may determine its funding procedure, governance model, and the requirements presented to pedagogical staff. The exact list of types is not enumerated in the law — the ministry determines it on the basis of these criteria.
A Private School and Financial Debt
A student's rights are protected even in a situation of financial debt to a private school. The private school is obliged, in case a financial debt arises, to let the student finish the current academic semester — the debt cannot become a ground for stopping studies in the middle of a semester. Termination of student status is possible only after the end of the semester, within a reasonable term before the start of the next semester, in the manner established by legislation, while ensuring the student's unimpeded mobility.
The procedural guarantees work in stages: the private school is obliged, as soon as the debt arises, to warn the student's legal representative in writing, to set a reasonable term for fulfilling the obligation, and to explain the consequences of non-fulfillment; after taking the decision to terminate student status, it must notify the ministry and the legal representative in writing no later than the next day; and upon termination of status, it must transfer the student's personal file and the documentation to be submitted for enrollment to the receiving school the next working day after receiving the corresponding request.
Student Mobility — Documents and Prepaid Tuition
If the student's legal representative wishes to move the student to another school, the private school is obliged to transfer the student's personal file and the documentation to be submitted for enrollment to the receiving school within 3 working days of the corresponding request and the representative's application, and to return the prepaid tuition — where it exists — to the legal representative within 5 working days. These deadlines are an important instrument for parents: changing schools should not drag on because of administrative procedures.
Foreign Educational Programs in Georgia
Only a foreign-recognized general education program may be implemented in Georgia for whose recognition the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement has an agreement concluded with the authorized institution of the foreign country. The procedure and conditions for concluding the agreement are determined by a rule approved by a decree of the Government of Georgia. The right to implement such a program belongs to a legal entity created in the manner established by Georgian legislation, on which the requirements contemplated for general education institutions do not extend — except for the chapter on students' rights, the authorization norms, and the chapter related to the mandatur service; at the same time, certain other norms of the same law apply to this legal entity with regard to their content.
Authorization is mandatory here as well: an implementer of the program must be authorized at the level of general education at which it implements the foreign program, although the authorization regulation may define different conditions for it. The document issued upon completion of the corresponding level of a foreign-recognized program implemented in Georgia is equated with the document confirming basic or full general education, gives the right to continue studies at the next level, and needs neither apostille certification nor legalization. A student studying in such a program has the right of mobility, and recognition of education received during mobility is carried out in the manner established by legislation.
Recognition of Earlier Programs
The law also settles a historical question: equated with the document confirming general education is a document issued before the start of the 2017-2018 school year upon completion in Georgia of a foreign-recognized program for whose recognition the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement will conclude an agreement after 1 January 2017. Likewise recognized is education received before the start of the 2017-2018 school year within such programs. In practice, this means that the status of an old document or old study period depends on when an agreement with the corresponding foreign institution was or will be concluded.