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Armenian Schools In Tbilisi: The End Of The Story

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  • Armenian Schools In Tbilisi: The End Of The Story

    ARMENIAN SCHOOLS IN TBILISI: THE END OF THE STORY
    Tamara Vardanyan

    http://noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=6243
    16.01.2012

    Expert at the Center for the Armenian Studies, "Noravank" Foundation,
    Candidate of Science (History)

    The most important sphere regarding the issues connected with the
    Armenians from Tbilisi is the education. Providing Armenian oriented
    education is crucial and even strategic task which can be solved
    only by means of the Armenian schools. Without Armenian schools the
    activity of a number of other circles makes no prospects: if there
    is no school, the Armenian newspaper will have no reader, Armenian
    theatre - spectator, Armenian TV - audience, Armenian Church -
    believer. Their absence will definitely promote assimilation of the
    Armenians in the Georgian environment, and the Armeniancy of Tbilisi
    will stop existing as a part of the Armeniancy in general. Thus,
    the issue of preservation of the national identity of the Armenians
    in Tbilisi is first of all connected with normal activity of the
    Armenian schools. And though many acknowledge this simple truth,
    nevertheless, the situation in this sphere is worsening gradually.

    Glorious past

    The Armenians in Tbilisi inherited mighty national educational
    system. It its suffice to remember Nersisian Gymnasium (1824) where
    Perch Proshyan, Ghazaros Aghayan, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Khachatur
    Abovyan, Derenik Demirchyan, Stepanos Nazaryan, Ervand Lalayan and
    many other celebrated persons studied. The glory of the past is so
    strong that it allows nourishing from it spiritually till now and
    looking hopefully to the future. While speaking about educational
    issues one of our interlocutors remembered the Nersisian Gymnasium
    and said: "When Catholicos Nerses established the Nersisian School,
    80% of the Armenians living in Tbilisi did not speak Armenian, but
    that man strengthened that school so that everybody automatically
    went there. If there is good school, parents will see that there
    are good prospects"1. So this brilliant example still inspires the
    Armenians in Tbilisi who are aware of the history of the Armenian
    Tbilisi. But it is impossible to survive long only by means of the
    inspirations from the past. Today that heritage has disappeared and
    it is necessary to take into consideration new realities.

    Soviet past

    Over the Soviet period the Armenian schools continued their almost
    unimpeded activity. Being involved in the Soviet educational system,
    they even embarked on a new stage of development. In the Soviet
    Georgia, in the districts of Tbilisi populated by the Armenians, as a
    rule, the Armenian children attended Armenian schools, with the rare
    exceptions, mainly of the children from mixed marriages. In 1976,
    e.g., in Tbilisi 32 Armenian schools worked, the graduates of which
    had good possibilities of getting higher education in various higher
    education establishments of a big country, as the educational level
    almost everywhere was the same (with small differences). Among good
    prospects the Armenian department of the Tbilisi Pedagogical Institute
    after A. Pushkin, the Armenian universities and institutes as well
    as other institutions can be mentioned.

    Post-Soviet decline

    In the post-Soviet years the situation gradually worsened. In 2006-2007
    the community already had 7 schools, of which only two were fully
    Armenian - #95 and #104. The others were Armenian-Russian, i.e. there
    were two departments in one school - Russian and Armenian. In those
    years in all 7 schools 732 pupils studied.

    Over the 20 years which have passed since the independence of Georgia,
    the Armenians have been sending their children neither to Armenian,
    nor even to Georgian, but mostly to Russian schools. As a result about
    90% of the pupils of the Russian schools and 75-80% of teachers are
    the Armenians. I.e. the Russian educational system in the capital of
    Georgia was mainly formed and acted due to the Armenians. Though over
    the first years the flow to the Georgian schools also increased on
    about 15%, nevertheless, the Armenians mostly preferred to receive
    Russian education. Probably, there were several reasons and the
    first one is the inertia which came from the Soviet years when
    people felt themselves the citizens of big Russian space. The other
    reason was that most of the parents saw the future of their children
    not in Georgia, and unfortunately no even in Armenian, but abroad,
    particularly, in Russia. But there was also another important reason,
    i.e. the Russian schools provided the Armenians from Tbilisi with a
    kind of transitional or intermediate status. Hiding in the vanishing
    shadow of a "mighty language" and once "mighty empire" a considerable
    part of the Armeniancy, thus, tried to avoid the absorbing influence
    of the Georgian ethno-cultural environment, which has been gaining
    strength gradually.

    It is not a secret that the number of the Armenian pupils in the
    Armenian schools is annually decreasing. Among many other reasons
    (to which we will not refer in this article as we have covered them
    for many times before), the issue of the quality of education should
    be singled out. In recent years the so-called "complex classes"
    have been formed in several schools. If the number of the pupils was
    not enough for forming one class (by state funding), several classes
    were merged (e.g.1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and etc. grades), and the lessons
    were taught by one teacher. In consequence, the teachers' staff was
    reduced, and correspondingly, the state financial burden was also
    reduced. Undoubtedly, this all affected the quality of teaching,
    caused discontent among the parents, and the number of the pupils
    continued to reduce. Thus, the formation of such classes has even
    deepened the crisis.

    Current condition

    Today we can state that the history of the Armenian national education
    in Tbilisi is coming to its end. The decline was, of course, boosted by
    the "reforms" of the Georgian authorities in the sphere of education,
    but the Armenian party also has its share of guilt - the Armenians
    in Tbilisi were not prepared to countering those challenges which
    aroused after the independence.

    In the recent years such big Armenian schools such as #93 and #110
    have irretrievably sank into oblivion. Thus, the Secondary Armenian
    School #93 was in the Armenian district - Havlabar. Back in 2006
    the situation was formed when everybody realized that the school was
    going to be closed. In those years 60 pupils studied in the Armenian
    department and 340 pupils in the Russian. And the majority of those
    studying in the Russian department were the Armenians. But serious
    steps were taken directed to the Georgification of the school.

    Firstly, Georgian department was opened, for the account of the pupils
    of the Georgian school #98 who were moved to this school.

    Before that school #98 was partially burned down. The opinion
    existed among the local Armenians that the fire pursued far-reaching
    objectives. At those times there was a popular belief that the partial
    burning of the building would grant an opportunity to privatize it
    and sell as private property. However, those both incentives might
    be present simultaneously. Placing of the Georgian school inside the
    Armenian firstly caused problems connected with the distribution of
    the classrooms, as well as with the shift of the lessons, then the
    Georgian department began gradually absorb the Armenian. Today the
    school #93 is fully Georgian.

    School #110 is situated in the other district where many Armenians
    live - "Metrostroy". It was rather big Armenian school, the pupils
    of which successfully participated in various contests. Many events
    were held at the school. Last summer it was closed and its pupils were
    moved to the neighbouring school #103. Previously the director of the
    school was fired; at first, he was substituted by the deputy director
    and then it was closed. Today the Armenian director of school #110
    is a deputy director at the Georgian school #103 and many Armenian
    teachers were selected for redundancy.

    The Armenian departments at schools #131, 132 and 82 where they could
    not gather first formers are also on the verge of closing (it should
    be mentioned that according to the law the availability of three
    pupils allows opening a class). In the aforementioned schools only
    senior classes has remained and after the graduation the Armenian
    departments will automatically be closed. However, even moer gloomy
    prospect is available too: when those departments are closed before
    the graduation of the pupils studying there. The point is that
    though only three pupils are enough to form a first form class,
    the sixth forms should be composed of at least 18 pupils, otherwise
    the directorate has a right to dismiss the class and the pupils
    (and in the high school there should be at least 21 pupils). Today,
    the number of the pupils studying in those classes is not inspiring
    and it is doubtful whether the classes will remain Armenian in the
    high school. If those classed are closed, it is not excluded that
    a part of the pupils would prefer rather to stay at the Georgian
    department of the same school than to move to the school with the
    Armenian department but which is far from the place they live.

    Let us mention that the transport expenses take important place among
    the reasons, which impede children attending Armenian schools. We
    personally could see when the parents, on the assumption of preserving
    national identity, took children to the Armenian class, which, however,
    was far from the place they live. After a while, when the classes had
    not begun yet, he was wondering whether he made a right choice. The
    fact that the first formers are usually accompanied to the school by
    their parents doubled their transport expenses. Not all the parents
    are able to overcome this problem. According to the recent information,
    the aforementioned story had a positive ending due to the aunt of the
    child who made efforts, convinced, even offered to render financial
    assistant for the child to receive the Armenian education.

    This summer it became clear that the authorities decided to close
    Russian schools, substantiating it by the fact that the graduates
    of the schools showed bad results at the graduation exams. There is
    an opinion that the graduates of the Russian schools were initially
    underscored (we present the rumors as in reality it is not that
    important whether those are grounded opinions or not. It is more
    important that the existence of such proves the distrust towards the
    authorities among the Armenians). Whatever, the Russian schools were
    closed. As they were mostly attended by the Armenian pupils, after
    their closing there were two ways out - either to reclaim their roots
    or to finally take the road of Georgification. This September there
    were still some hopes that after closing of the Russian schools there
    would be flow to the Armenian schools or the Armenian departments. But
    unfortunately, it has not happened.

    Being obliged to make a choice most of the parents decided to send
    children to the Georgian schools.

    One of our interlocutors who is rather aware of all those issues said:
    "Once there was an opinion that if there were no Russian schools the
    Armenians would go to the Armenian schools. But life proved that it
    wasn't like that. The Russian schools were closed and there was a
    flow not towards the Armenian but towards Georgian departments. As
    for the first formers maybe their number is bigger as compared with
    last two or three years, but the reason is that there is only one
    Armenian school in Tbilisi left"2. Let us mention that last year the
    number of the first formers was 21 and this year it is 28 children.

    Thus, at current moment there is only Armenian school left - #104,
    where 207 pupils study and one Armenian-Georgian school (#103) where
    they managed to form first form this year (only 15 pupils).

    End of the story or change of the tactics

    The current situation demands from the Armenians a drastic change
    of approaches and perception of the situation. It is necessary to
    acknowledge that the Georgian state authorities carry out policy of
    destroying the Armenian school system and thus, they have obtained
    some results. Today only one Armenian school survived and we believe
    it will continue to work as even Georgian authorities need it in
    order to show it to the international circles.

    It is known that only a comprehensive educational system may prove
    the existence of the schools. Such a system includes teaching process
    from preschool age up to the higher educational institutions.

    While sending their children to school the overwhelming majority
    of parents think about the further prospects of entering the higher
    educational institution. The broader possibilities of entering the
    university in the future school renders, the more pupils go there -
    this should be clear to anyone dealing with the school issues.

    Tbilisi Pedagogical University after A. Pushkin, where the Armenian
    department had existed since 1939, for many years had provided the
    Armenian schools with not only teachers of the Armenian language and
    literature but also teachers of physics, mathematics, chemistry and
    other subjects in Armenian. In the Soviet years the department had
    on average 10 students annually. Today this institute does not exist
    anymore. It merged with the Institute of Foreign Languages and turned
    into I. Chavchavadze Language University where there is no separate
    Armenian department. It was merged with Azerbaijani, Russian and
    other languages departments and there is almost no replenishment at
    the Armenian department. The point is that number of hours of the
    Armenian language and literature are curtailed and consequently even
    teachers with big experience are left without job. It is clear that
    the school leavers are not interested in entering the department after
    the graduation of which they will face serious problems with finding
    job. This problem should have been solved by the establishment of
    the Armenian-Georgian University which was initiated by the former
    prime-minister Andranik Margaryan, but for recent years it has finally
    fallen into oblivion.

    Conclusion

    So, what solutions can be offered to get out of the current
    situation? It is necessary to take under wing the only Armenian school
    and to help its pupils and teacher as much as possible.

    Connections and relations between the schools can be established,
    and not only with the schools from Yerevan but also from Vanadzor,
    Stepanakert and other cities.

    But even the aforementioned measures will not set the problem. The
    establishment of a private school (or schools) and at least of one
    university (and it is not important at given moment whether it will
    be state Armenian-Georgian university or simply private Armenian
    university) is necessary. Let us mention that in case with public
    (state) schools obstacles are created when someone wants to organize
    facultative studies of, for example, Armenian language or history on
    Saturdays or Sundays in the schools where the overwhelming majority of
    pupils are the Armenians. As for the private educational institutions
    the state cannot interfere into its affairs to such an extent. By
    the way, there are two big schools in Tbilisi which are sponsored
    by the government of Azerbaijan and even Georgians express wish to
    study there.

    It is necessary to elaborate programme of long-term actions in order
    to overcome the crisis the Armenian schools in Tbilisi appeared in.

    Of course, investments are necessary for that, but we believe that
    most of the problems of the Armeniancy are conditioned not by the
    financial scarcity but by the absence of will.

    1 Interview #2, Tbilisi, 14.09.2011. Personal Archive of T.

    Vardanyan.

    2 Interview #7, Tbilisi, 14.09.2011. Personal Archive of T.

    Vardanyan.

    "Globus National Security", issue 6, 2011

    Return

    __________________________________________________ __________________________
    Another materials of author * THE POLITICAL IMPLICATION OF THE
    TURKISH-GEORGIAN "CULTURAL" DIALOGUE[23.06.2011] * ARMENIANS OF
    TBILISI: NEW REALITIES [14.04.2011] * PECULIARITIES OF BILINGUAL
    EDUCATION FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE NATIONAL IDENTITY[20.10.2010]
    * The Armenian community in Tbilisi: conclusion[11.12.2006]

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