Education

Supporting education has been an important element of our community investment programmes in Georgia since their inception. We have supported projects designed to make quick impact, such as refurbishing school buildings, as well as longer-term initiatives that enhance the skills and capabilities of students.

Support for schools

The Improved Schools Project, which was implemented as part of our Community Investment Programme (CIP-ISP), seeks to provide opportunity for young people to participate more effectively in Georgia's social and economic growth. The project has supported school rehabilitation, teacher training, awareness raising campaigns on educational reform and the organization of summer camps. Since 2004, we have spent over $2.6 million on educational projects under CIP.

Our one-year programme of investment in schools around the Supsa terminal was completed in 2008. It has involved school building rehabilitation, providing training to boards of trustees and supporting various initiatives with schoolchildren. These included support for eco-clubs, which are organized by pupils and undertake environmental projects around the school.  We supported a foreign language competition in which 25 schools and 645 students participated, and supported awareness raising and training events on topics including leadership and how to resolve conflicts.

We have also supported small-scale projects in community schools located within two kilometres of the western route pipeline (WREP). Schools are encouraged to submit applications to BP for grants which can be used for building refurbishment or to promote broader educational aims. For example, we supported a series of safety quizzes in schools, encouraging children to learn about safety around the pipeline.  By having this programme managed by our community liaison officers, we aim for it to be as responsive as possible to the needs of the villages concerned.

Promoting road safety in schools

We reached agreement in 2008 to finance a one year project in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to raise awareness of road safety in schools. We are funding the work of the Partnership for Road Safety Foundation, a local NGO which is implementing the project in more than 40 schools throughout Georgia.

Raising awareness of road safety among children in Georgia is an important priority, recognized by the Georgian government. Basic education on road safety has been lacking. Poor road infrastructure and higher numbers of vehicles have contributed to increasing rates of death and injury among children on Georgia’s roads. In 2007, 36 children were killed as a result of traffic accidents in Georgia, and 550 injured. BP’s support for the Partnership for Road Safety Foundation will contribute to a pilot project that aims to raise safety awareness among adolescents of road-related risks and spread that learning through families and communities. Schools in urban areas, with complicated road traffic environments, will participate in the programme, with a view to extending the initiative in future.

Assistance for postgraduate study

In 2007, we provided financial support to nine Georgian students to undertake post-graduate education in the UK. This was the third annual group of students, in a programme run in partnership with the British Council.

We continued to contribute funding for the International School of Economics in Tbilisi (ISET) established in 2006 with core support from BP and the governments of Georgia, Sweden and Norway to promote excellence in postgraduate economic study and research. In its first year of operation, ISET made appointments to its faculty, filled administrative positions and moved to a new building.

In 2008, the school completed its second year of operation, appointed faculty members, completed the refurbishment of its building and admitted its third year of students. The BP Group Chief Economist, Dr Christof Ruehl, visited Tbilisi and held a lecture for students at ISET in 2008, focusing on the 2008 BP Statistical Review of World Energy.