Tweet
OUSTING: MP CHARGES VIOLATION OF MINORITY RIGHTS AS ARMENIAN LANGUAGE REDUCED IN JAVAKHK SCHOOLS
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
22.07.10 | 16:06
News
Ahead of the new academic year, curriculum of the Armenian language at
Armenian secondary schools in Javakhk, Georgia, was reduced, which,
according to National Assembly deputy Shirak Torosyan, is another
attempt by Georgian authorities to trigger another wave of emigration
of Armenians from Javakhk, and to distort the national identity of
Armenians living there.
Torosyan, Chairman of the Javakhk Compatriotic Union, who was banned
to enter Georgia by Georgian authorities with the reasoning that he
was threatening the national security of Georgia, compares the recent
tendencies of reducing the Armenian language curriculum at Armenian
schools in Georgia.
"The Armenian language curriculum at high schools during Soviet
period was eight hours weekly. Later the Georgian authorities made
it four hours, and now they want to make it only two hours weekly,"
Torosyan says.
Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti, a southwestern province of
Georgia, has about 120,000 Armenian residents, who constantly complain
about various pressures put on them by Georgian authorities, who are
accused of discrimination against them as a national minority.
Torosyan says that the examination of a mother tongue (the Armenian
language in this case) is not included in Georgia's final exams list
for 12th grade students.
"This aims to eradicate the Armenian language, as regional language
and as a means of communication for Javakhki-Armenians, whereas we
constantly struggle to make Armenian be recognized as the second state
language in the region," Torosyan says, adding that it is driven by
the international legal norms of national minorities, and especially
by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
of the Council of Europe, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
Torosyan also claims that the Georgian special services have recently
formed a "blacklist" of Armenian teachers, mainly consisting of
teachers of the Armenian language and Armenian history, who are
already dismissed.
"They [teachers of the Armenian language and Armenian history] got
no explanation or reasoning why they had been dismissed; instead,
they were warned that no matter where they appealed, nothing would
be changed," Torosyan alleges.
From: A. Papazian
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
22.07.10 | 16:06
News
Ahead of the new academic year, curriculum of the Armenian language at
Armenian secondary schools in Javakhk, Georgia, was reduced, which,
according to National Assembly deputy Shirak Torosyan, is another
attempt by Georgian authorities to trigger another wave of emigration
of Armenians from Javakhk, and to distort the national identity of
Armenians living there.
Torosyan, Chairman of the Javakhk Compatriotic Union, who was banned
to enter Georgia by Georgian authorities with the reasoning that he
was threatening the national security of Georgia, compares the recent
tendencies of reducing the Armenian language curriculum at Armenian
schools in Georgia.
"The Armenian language curriculum at high schools during Soviet
period was eight hours weekly. Later the Georgian authorities made
it four hours, and now they want to make it only two hours weekly,"
Torosyan says.
Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti, a southwestern province of
Georgia, has about 120,000 Armenian residents, who constantly complain
about various pressures put on them by Georgian authorities, who are
accused of discrimination against them as a national minority.
Torosyan says that the examination of a mother tongue (the Armenian
language in this case) is not included in Georgia's final exams list
for 12th grade students.
"This aims to eradicate the Armenian language, as regional language
and as a means of communication for Javakhki-Armenians, whereas we
constantly struggle to make Armenian be recognized as the second state
language in the region," Torosyan says, adding that it is driven by
the international legal norms of national minorities, and especially
by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
of the Council of Europe, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
Torosyan also claims that the Georgian special services have recently
formed a "blacklist" of Armenian teachers, mainly consisting of
teachers of the Armenian language and Armenian history, who are
already dismissed.
"They [teachers of the Armenian language and Armenian history] got
no explanation or reasoning why they had been dismissed; instead,
they were warned that no matter where they appealed, nothing would
be changed," Torosyan alleges.
From: A. Papazian