FAQ · Education 9

The Law of Georgia on Early and Preschool Education treats early education as services for a child under two and for a parent or legal representative, including childcare, healthcare, catering, hygiene, early intervention, and inclusive education. Preschool education then covers a child's development from the age of two until entry to the first grade, and the school readiness programme is a mandatory component of that stage. At public preschool institutions, children are entitled to free education and catering under the legislation, while preschool education, including school readiness, is voluntary, universal, and open to every child of the relevant age. Municipalities must provide that preschool education, and an institution must be authorised before it can offer early or preschool services, with the authorisation itself free of charge. The language of instruction is Georgian, and in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia it is Abkhazian as well.

Georgia's Minister of Education, Science and Youth, Givi Mikanadze, has said that private tutoring in the country needs no official permit and is not regulated by law. He described tutoring as a personal agreement between individuals, carried out outside official working hours, and therefore outside the legal framework. The ministry's account draws a line for training centres and institutions, because a teacher who is formally employed by an organisation must obtain consent from the main employer so that the extra work does not interfere with the primary duties. Directors are expected to issue that consent when the teacher fully performs the main job and has time for the additional work, and the only stated requirement is that the two sets of working hours do not overlap. The minister also said claims that tutoring needs official approval are false, and that tutoring is not and cannot be subject to any permits or restrictions.

The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that, as of 2022, Georgia had no national school meal programme, so each school arranged food on its own according to its kitchens, space, and storage. The most common arrangements described are buffet-style meals prepared outside the school, or snacks sold by vendors inside or outside the premises. In 2015 the Ministry of Health issued nutrition guidelines for people who provide meals to schoolchildren, and those guidelines are recommendations rather than compulsory standards for every school. In 2017 the government approved a technical regulation on the nutritional value of meals in preschools, and those preschool standards are compulsory for every early and preschool institution whatever its legal form. Because the school guidelines are voluntary, the education ministry's monitoring unit has no enforcement mechanism for them, while the National Food Agency monitors hygiene and food safety.

A Corvelva summary, describing the position as of November 2026, says routine childhood vaccination has been mandatory in Georgia since 2019, after a 14 November 2018 amendment created a national schedule of mandatory preventive vaccinations. The schedule for children under five, first planned for January 2019, began on 1 June 2019, and the diseases and ages are set by a health minister's ordinance of 16 September 2019, which has been amended several times. The same account says the 2018 law requires kindergartens and schools to collect each child's vaccination status, and the National Center for Disease Control announced that a certificate listing the calendar vaccinations would be required for school entry. The page also says practice is not uniform, because an account of Tbilisi kindergartens described only a health certificate with vaccination history and a mere recommendation from the education ministry, while Gardabani kindergartens in 2023 required health form 100 with the full vaccination list. Corvelva adds that it found no national law that actually excludes an unvaccinated child, and that parents of unvaccinated children receive explanations and six months to comply, with no fine found for them.

The Law of Georgia on General Education provides that the academic year at every general education institution in Georgia begins on 15 September. If that date falls on a holiday or a day off, studies begin on the next business day. The Minister of Education, Science and Youth may set a different start date, for every institution or for one institution, by an individual administrative act. That different date may be set when a public school is running a pilot programme under the law, in an emergency under the Law on Public Safety, or while rehabilitation works are carried out at a school. A private school may also be given a different start date when it makes a substantiated request.

Unison says foreign students must buy its mandatory health and accident insurance for their stay in Georgia, and it ties that purchase to Government Decree 572 of 10 September 2020. The policy reimburses medical services and repatriation costs caused by a sudden illness or an accident during the period it is valid. The insurer's summary lists further reimbursement at 70 percent for emergency outpatient care, 40 percent for scheduled outpatient care, 50 percent for emergency hospital services, and 30 percent for dental services. A six-month contract costs 130 lari and a twelve-month contract costs 260 lari, each as a single payment, with an annual aggregate limit of 70,000 lari. The same schedule shows full and unlimited cover for a round-the-clock information line, a family doctor, an ambulance, and emergency outpatient care that is inside the positive list.

Ilia State University's Tbilisi King Sejong Institute has opened registration for Korean language courses that anyone interested in the language may join. The intake lists a beginner class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 17:00 to 19:00, a basic class on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 15:00 to 17:00, and an intermediate class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 18:00 to 20:00. Registration for this intake runs from 24 August until 18:00 on 7 September 2026, and teaching starts on 14 September 2026. Alongside the language classes, the institute offers cultural events such as Alphabet Day, calligraphy and traditional dress, plus a chance to join official King Sejong programmes in Georgia or in Korea, and a certificate after successful completion. A student must attend at least 70 percent of the lectures, and the institute may remove a listener and withhold the certificate if attendance falls below that mark.

Languages and Tourism Centre Georgia, at Vazha-Pshavela Avenue 41 on the third floor in Tbilisi, lists a one-to-one Georgian course of six lessons a week. The booking page prices that course from 120 euro, with a combined course and accommodation figure shown from 270 euro. Each lesson lasts 45 minutes, the six lessons are arranged as two lessons on each of three days, and a new course can start on any Monday for between one and 52 weeks. The school states that there is no registration fee, no fee for changing the arrival date, and no charge for coursebooks. Lessons are private, with only one student, a placement test is given on the first day, and a certificate is issued at the end of the course.

Anyone aged 14 or over, whether a citizen of Georgia or of another country, may become a member of the National Library of Georgia by producing an identity card or a passport at the reader registration office. The membership card is issued, renewed or replaced at Building II, entered from Purtseladze Street, and it remains valid for five years. Library services are free of charge, and the stated working hours are every day from 10:00 to 18:00. A card holder must show the card when entering and leaving, leave large bags and coats in the cloakroom, keep silence in the reading halls, and report any damage in a book as soon as it is received. The card may not be given to another person, books may not be taken out of the reading halls without a librarian's permission, and the registration office must be told at once if the card is lost.