For over three and a half years, the ISET Policy Institute has been tracking the trends in the Georgian consumer sentiments. Every month a team of callers dial randomly generated telephone numbers to interview around 330 people from all over Georgia. The interviewer first asks the basic questions about the respondent’s age, level of education, place of residence, and then follows up with questions about the current financial situation of the household and the person’s expectations about the future economic situation in the country.

Rachvelis, the natives of a beautiful highland region in western Georgia, have a reputation for being slow but thorough in speaking and behavior. Whether slow or not, Rachvelis are certainly not dumb. At least according to their performance in the national General Ability Test (GAT). In 2012, students from Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti (R-L-KS) were 2nd (!) after Tbilisi on the average GAT performance (Chart 1).

Every human is born with billions of neurons or nerve cells, which form networks to process and transmit information. The structure of neuron networks constitutes the foundation for learning, memory, and other cognitive abilities.

Rati, Lasha, and Irakli are first-year engineering students at the Georgian Technical University (GTU). Rather unusual students, one should add. At 22-23, all three are very much alive. Yet, they never attend classes and are not taking exams. BSc in engineering would be their third educational degree, yet neither one of them has any intention of completing his studies at GTU. And one more interesting detail: their ‘studies’ at GTU are paid for by the Georgian taxpayers because engineering (as well as mathematics and natural sciences) is considered to be a priority subject by the Georgian government.

Tea Lobjanidze, an education specialist and writer, works at the Avchala juvenile prison. She is a member of the Education and Management Team (EMT), a group of professionals committed to the formal and informal education of children. In an interview she gave to ISET-PI’s Lasha Lanchava, Ms. Lobjanidze tells about the realities faced by Georgia’s at-risk youths and her vision of how Georgia can improve a lot of its children.