In a significant shift in Georgia’s educational policy, Minister of Education Aleksandre Tsuladze announced plans to introduce Chinese as a second language in schools. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to enhance foreign language education and deepen bilateral relations with China.
Tsuladze emphasized the importance of providing students with diverse opportunities to learn foreign languages, stating, “Our goal is to equip students with the skills necessary to thrive in a globalized world.” He highlighted that the Ministry is also considering establishing a separate standard for the Georgian language, independent of literature, to strengthen its teaching.
The move comes as Georgia seeks to expand its educational cooperation with China. As far back as July 2023, during a visit to Beijing, then Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a strategic partnership, with education and science identified as key areas for collaboration.
In the statement of the strategic partnership, the following are outlined in sections 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6:
3.4. The two sides will enhance their cooperation in science and higher education. They will promote exchange of teachers and students, strengthen cooperation in science and commercialization of new technologies and implement joint projects.
3.5. The two sides support universities in both countries in carrying out practical cooperation such as joint training programs, and encourage universities to make full use of high-quality digital education resources and combine online and offline channels for cooperation. The two sides will promote student exchange and joint cultivation by making good use of government scholarships and other channels.
3.6. Both sides attach importance to language exchange and cooperation, encourage schools of both countries to carry out Chinese and Georgian language teaching, stand ready to strengthen exchanges and training of language teachers, and support the building of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms).
As part of this partnership, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on Chinese language education in primary and secondary schools in Georgia. Chinese Vice Minister of Education Wu Yan expressed China’s commitment to supporting educational cooperation, stating that the two nations would work together to implement educational initiatives on a “wider scale” and at “a higher level.”
Until 2022, the main foreign language in Georgia’s state schools was English, followed by Russian. The following academic year, 5th graders were given the option to choose their third language, with school directors tasked with hiring teachers of that chosen language. While Russian remained popular, Spanish, German and French have also been among pupils’ top choices. It is unclear as yet where Chinese will fit into this picture.
What you might already know
1. China is one of the world’s oldest and richest continuous cultures, over 5000 years old.
2. China is the most populous nation in the world, with 1.28 billion people.
3. One fifth of the planet speaks Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is the mother tongue of over 873 million people, making it the most widely spoken first language in the world.
4. In addition to the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is also spoken in the important and influential Chinese communities of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, and Mongolia.
5. China is the second largest economy in the world.
By Team GT
