As part of the Global Media Literacy Week, the Communications Commission organised a presentation for teachers of the new “Hello Ruby” textbook by author and European Commission’s digital ambassador Linda Liukas. The meeting was attended by up to 80 teachers from various regions of Georgia. The new textbook consists of 4 volumes. Georgia is the second country where the new textbook has been translated and published by ComCom. It will be used by 80 schools across the country to teach the basics of programming and code writing to primary school children.

The event took place at Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency. The opening speech was made by the Head of Media Literacy Department at ComCom Mariam Dakhundaridze, who provided an overview of the media literacy projects implemented by the Commission across the country. Afterwards, Head of the Educational Resources Administration at the Ministry of Education and Science Ketevan Chkhobadze talked about the role of the Commission and the importance of “Hello Ruby” in the teaching process.

Linda Liukas introduced the new “Hello Ruby” book in detail to the teachers, and explained the new methodologies for teaching programming. After the presentation, teachers completed practical exercises and devised the appropriate lesson plan to effectively incorporate the textbook into the teaching process. The teachers received the new textbooks from the Communications Commission as a gift.

“Hello Ruby” is a series of books designed to teach primary school pupils the basics of programming and computer science. It has been recognised and translated in 36 countries, and has been included in the school curriculum in New York. The Communications Commission obtained exclusive publishing and translation rights for Hello Ruby” in Georgia from the author Linda Liukas. Initially, 5 Georgian schools started using the textbooks in 2019. As of today, up to 6000 pupils in 61 schools are learning IT with the help of these books. The Commission will provide the books to a further 19 schools after the conclusion of the Media Literacy Week.

The 2023 Media and Information Literacy Week opened on 24 October with a meeting with teachers on the subject of integrating media literacy into formal education, followed by the Media Literacy Day. Other scheduled events include the meeting of “Hello Ruby” author and EC digital ambassador Linda Liukas with teachers and parents, a global media literacy hackathon for young people, and a public lecture for students by international media literacy expert, Professor Renee Hobbs. The Media and Information Literacy Week will conclude on 31 October with a summary conference, which will include panel discussions involving senior representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, United Nations, European Union, UNICEF and World Bank.

The Media Literacy Week, which aims to raise public awareness about the importance of media literacy, has been held annually following the 2021 UN resolution.