Estonia helping to bring schools online in Georgia

Oct 12 - Experts from Estonia's Tiger's Leap project to computerize the country's schools offered advice to representatives from a similar program in Georgia called Deer's Leap. A 16-strong delegation led by Georgia's deputy minister of education and science visited Estonia 12-18 October to get familiar with the Estonian experience. "Eleven active teachers will pass a week-long course arranged by the e-Governance Academy to prepare them for training of teachers in Georgia. Five employees of the Deer's Leap foundation will start implementing the program in Georgia on the basis of the experience acquired in Estonia," manager of the e-Governance Academy Ivar Tallo said.

The Deer's Leap project sponsored by Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili received an official status in August and is currently in the early stages of development. Looking at Estonia's experience, the Georgians are now trying to find the most sensible strategies and ways to use computers in the teaching of different subjects. Mart Laanpere, an Estonian who helps to develop the Deer's Leap project, said teachers in Georgia were full of enthusiasm to make teaching in schools open and create possibilities for communicating with other parts of the world. The program was financed by the Open Estonia Foundation.