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RUSSIAN PHASED OUT FROM GEORGIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
By Natia Kuprashvili
Institute of War & Peace Reporting IWPR
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 608
September 16, 2011
Government wants more ethnic minority students in higher education,
but won't allow them to use Russian.
Georgia's education ministry is highlighting the success of efforts
to attract more students from ethnic minorities to university, but
the reforms have been overshadowed by a row over the disappearance
of Russian as a teaching medium in schools.
Changes to the university admissions system mean students from the two
major minorities had to sit one general knowledge exam, conducted in
either Azerbaijani or Armenian, this year. They used to have to sit
multiple admissions tests in Georgian, a formidable task for anyone
less than fluent.
Under a programme called 4+1, they will now spend one year studying
Georgian and then start on a four-year degree course alongside native
speakers. No entrance exam is being offered in a third major language
- Russian.
"The number of people from ethnic minorities in Georgian universities
has risen a hundredfold," Manana Manjgaladze, spokeswoman for President
Mikheil Saakashvili, said.
Deputy Education Minister Dmitry Shashkin put a more precise figure
to it, saying 424 non-Georgian students entered university this autumn
as a result of the reform, up from 200 in the last academic year.
To show minority applicants how serious it was, Saakashvili's office
promised to cover the full tuition fees for 100 Armenian and 100
Azerbaijani students.
Despite this year's improvement, the two minorities remain seriously
underrepresented in higher education. Azerbaijanis account for around
6.5 per cent of the population and Armenians about 3.5 per cent,
according to the most recent census figures. Of the 4,000 children
who leave schools where the teaching medium is not Georgian, those
going on to university will generally head to Azerbaijan or Armenia.
"The majority prefer to do what their family members and neighbours
have done, and to follow the well-trodden path to education in Armenia
or Azerbaijan," Naira Nazarova of Georgia's teaching union said.
The positive move to encourage local Azerbaijanis and Armenians
to opt for a university in Georgia has been somewhat undermined by
the government's determination to eliminate the use of Russian as a
teaching medium from the schools. Many parents from ethnic minorities
used to opt for a Russian-language education, because it remains such
a useful lingua franca.
The education ministry has presented the elimination of Russian as
part of an overall general plan to change they way foreign languages
are taught. The implication is that these days, Russian is considered
no more or less important than, say, Chinese.
"The study of English has become compulsory from the first year [of
school], and the study of a second foreign language begins in year
seven. Schools can choose any language - Russian, Chinese, French or
another one," deputy education minister Irina Kurdadze said.
After announcing that it wanted the 40 schools that still taught mainly
in Russian to shift to bilingual instruction using Georgian as well,
the ministry forced them to shift to Georgian, with Russian relegated
to the same status as any other foreign language.
Armenian children attending the Tetritskaro school in Kvemo Kartli
region, for example, only discovered they would be studying in Georgian
rather than Russian when the school year started in September. They
were also given the option of learning via Armenian, but their shocked
parents said that since these children had always been in a Russian
teaching environment, they did not have a good enough knowledge of
either Armenian or Georgian.
"The education ministry works in secret and doesn't want to talk to
organisations like ours," Artur Stepanyan, an ethnic Armenian from
the Multiethnic Georgia organisation, said. "We ourselves have asked
for reforms to launch bilingual education - but not like this. This
isn't a reform, it's a PR-stunt that harms the children. I think it's
a consequence of the [poor] relationship between Georgia and Russia.
With elections are coming up, the government wants to show that it's
supporting the Georgian language."
The same happened in many other formerly Russian-language schools,
including those in Akhalkalaki, where Avik Akopyan, an ethnic Armenian,
said his daughter Seda would be disadvantaged.
"I would certainly like my daughter to speak Armenian and Georgian
well, but when we sent her to the Russian school, things were different
- there weren't any Georgian or Armenian textbooks," he said. "So
what should we do now? She won't understand the lessons and she'll
end up not getting an education."
Teaching union representative Nazarova said, "The government is
definitely making an effort not to lose the non-Georgian-speaking
contingent, but its policies are inconsistent. Changes to university
education need to be rooted in and follow on from changes to school
education, but that isn't happening. The education ministry's
inconsistency can be seen in its recent decision on education in
Russian, the language in which ethnic minorities talk to Georgians
and to each other."
Nazarova said using Azerbaijani and Armenian as a teaching medium in
the schools was hampered by the fact that teachers in those languages
were not trained to the same standard as others, that there were
very few who knew one of those languages plus Georgian well enough,
and that translations of textbooks were poor.
The education ministry insists the changes it has made are solely
designed to ensure everyone knows Georgian.
"Knowledge of the state language is very important for any citizen,"
deputy minister Shashkin said
Akopyan remains more concerned with his daughter's immediate prospects.
"Maybe the minister has benevolent intentions, but this has done
my child no good," he said. "The 4+1 programme has lost all meaning
for us, since Seda won't be able to do the exam in Armenian, and it
isn't being conducted in Russian. Now they've even abolished [school]
teaching in Russian, so Seda isn't going to understand a thing."
Natia Kuprashvili is executive director of the Georgian Association
of Regional Broadcasters.
By Natia Kuprashvili
Institute of War & Peace Reporting IWPR
CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 608
September 16, 2011
Government wants more ethnic minority students in higher education,
but won't allow them to use Russian.
Georgia's education ministry is highlighting the success of efforts
to attract more students from ethnic minorities to university, but
the reforms have been overshadowed by a row over the disappearance
of Russian as a teaching medium in schools.
Changes to the university admissions system mean students from the two
major minorities had to sit one general knowledge exam, conducted in
either Azerbaijani or Armenian, this year. They used to have to sit
multiple admissions tests in Georgian, a formidable task for anyone
less than fluent.
Under a programme called 4+1, they will now spend one year studying
Georgian and then start on a four-year degree course alongside native
speakers. No entrance exam is being offered in a third major language
- Russian.
"The number of people from ethnic minorities in Georgian universities
has risen a hundredfold," Manana Manjgaladze, spokeswoman for President
Mikheil Saakashvili, said.
Deputy Education Minister Dmitry Shashkin put a more precise figure
to it, saying 424 non-Georgian students entered university this autumn
as a result of the reform, up from 200 in the last academic year.
To show minority applicants how serious it was, Saakashvili's office
promised to cover the full tuition fees for 100 Armenian and 100
Azerbaijani students.
Despite this year's improvement, the two minorities remain seriously
underrepresented in higher education. Azerbaijanis account for around
6.5 per cent of the population and Armenians about 3.5 per cent,
according to the most recent census figures. Of the 4,000 children
who leave schools where the teaching medium is not Georgian, those
going on to university will generally head to Azerbaijan or Armenia.
"The majority prefer to do what their family members and neighbours
have done, and to follow the well-trodden path to education in Armenia
or Azerbaijan," Naira Nazarova of Georgia's teaching union said.
The positive move to encourage local Azerbaijanis and Armenians
to opt for a university in Georgia has been somewhat undermined by
the government's determination to eliminate the use of Russian as a
teaching medium from the schools. Many parents from ethnic minorities
used to opt for a Russian-language education, because it remains such
a useful lingua franca.
The education ministry has presented the elimination of Russian as
part of an overall general plan to change they way foreign languages
are taught. The implication is that these days, Russian is considered
no more or less important than, say, Chinese.
"The study of English has become compulsory from the first year [of
school], and the study of a second foreign language begins in year
seven. Schools can choose any language - Russian, Chinese, French or
another one," deputy education minister Irina Kurdadze said.
After announcing that it wanted the 40 schools that still taught mainly
in Russian to shift to bilingual instruction using Georgian as well,
the ministry forced them to shift to Georgian, with Russian relegated
to the same status as any other foreign language.
Armenian children attending the Tetritskaro school in Kvemo Kartli
region, for example, only discovered they would be studying in Georgian
rather than Russian when the school year started in September. They
were also given the option of learning via Armenian, but their shocked
parents said that since these children had always been in a Russian
teaching environment, they did not have a good enough knowledge of
either Armenian or Georgian.
"The education ministry works in secret and doesn't want to talk to
organisations like ours," Artur Stepanyan, an ethnic Armenian from
the Multiethnic Georgia organisation, said. "We ourselves have asked
for reforms to launch bilingual education - but not like this. This
isn't a reform, it's a PR-stunt that harms the children. I think it's
a consequence of the [poor] relationship between Georgia and Russia.
With elections are coming up, the government wants to show that it's
supporting the Georgian language."
The same happened in many other formerly Russian-language schools,
including those in Akhalkalaki, where Avik Akopyan, an ethnic Armenian,
said his daughter Seda would be disadvantaged.
"I would certainly like my daughter to speak Armenian and Georgian
well, but when we sent her to the Russian school, things were different
- there weren't any Georgian or Armenian textbooks," he said. "So
what should we do now? She won't understand the lessons and she'll
end up not getting an education."
Teaching union representative Nazarova said, "The government is
definitely making an effort not to lose the non-Georgian-speaking
contingent, but its policies are inconsistent. Changes to university
education need to be rooted in and follow on from changes to school
education, but that isn't happening. The education ministry's
inconsistency can be seen in its recent decision on education in
Russian, the language in which ethnic minorities talk to Georgians
and to each other."
Nazarova said using Azerbaijani and Armenian as a teaching medium in
the schools was hampered by the fact that teachers in those languages
were not trained to the same standard as others, that there were
very few who knew one of those languages plus Georgian well enough,
and that translations of textbooks were poor.
The education ministry insists the changes it has made are solely
designed to ensure everyone knows Georgian.
"Knowledge of the state language is very important for any citizen,"
deputy minister Shashkin said
Akopyan remains more concerned with his daughter's immediate prospects.
"Maybe the minister has benevolent intentions, but this has done
my child no good," he said. "The 4+1 programme has lost all meaning
for us, since Seda won't be able to do the exam in Armenian, and it
isn't being conducted in Russian. Now they've even abolished [school]
teaching in Russian, so Seda isn't going to understand a thing."
Natia Kuprashvili is executive director of the Georgian Association
of Regional Broadcasters.