Gov’t to Gift All First Graders Laptops for School

In the new academic year 2017-2018, all first graders joining public schools of Georgia will receive Acer laptop computers from the State.

The LEPL Educational and Scientific Infrastructure Development Agency of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia reports that on September 15, all first graders will receive their laptops.

In total, 50,300 first graders will be granted Acer TravelMate B117 Notebooks. The same laptops will also be given to first grader teachers.

The Ministry of Education bought 53,700 portable computers in total for this purpose.

Moreover, the Ministry reports that the students of public schools this year will receive textbooks as gifts from the state. According to the Ministry, 60 percent of said free textbooks will be new and 40 percent will be second-hand.

Free textbooks will be available to all pupils at public schools from 1 to 12 grades. Furthermore, free books will be granted to socially vulnerable pupils and to schools located on the territory of the breakaway regions of Georgia - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In total, 4,724,660 books, notebooks and tests were printed by the State for the 2017-2018 Academic Year.

The laptops and books for the public school pupils have been free since 2010. In 2011, under the presvious government, a joint factory of Georgian Algorithm and international company Intel opened in Tbilisi which produced first Georgian net books, which under the presidential program of education were handed over to every first-year pupil in Georgia`s public schools. 

Studies at Georgian public schools are to begin on 15 September, while state kindergartens are to open their doors on September 18.

By Thea Morrison