On September 6, the schools of the Akhalgori district, which had been Georgian-language until 2017, started teaching in Russian in 1-8 grades. If the process continues in this way, schools will become fully Russian-language in 3 years.

The "Russification" of Akhalgori Georgian-language educational institutions has been underway since 2017, which means that the languages of education in the district's schools and kindergartens are Russian and Ossetian only. According to the decision made by the de facto authorities of South Ossetia in 2017, Georgian schools are subject to the general curriculum developed in South Ossetia; textbooks and curricula meet the general education standard of the de facto republic; the Georgian language is just one of the subjects.

Until 2017, the language of education in eight Georgian schools of the Akhalgori district had been Georgian and the textbooks and curricula had been certified by the Ministry of Education of Georgia. In 2017, representatives of the de facto authorities announced that the curriculum of Georgian schools could not fit the so-called South Ossetian reality, focusing on a problem with teaching history. According to the de facto authorities of South Ossetia, the lessons were biased – not in the so-called South Ossetian interests. After examining the textbooks, the de facto authorities came to a "conclusion" that the history textbook was directed against so-called South Ossetia as a "state". Consequently, the textbook was removed from the curriculum; In order to control the situation, the curriculum that was taught in other schools of South Ossetia has been introduced in Georgian schools as well.[1]

 

According to the Democracy Research Institute (DRI), the Akhalgori district has 17 first-graders in the current academic year, namely, Akhalgori Russian high school has 9, Akhalgori high school, which was Georgian until 2017 has 3, the school of the village of Orchosni has 3, the school in the village of Ikoti has 1 and the school in the village of Korinti has 1 first-grader. Other Ossetian villages in the district, such as Zakori, or even a large village like Tsinagara, have no first-graders. A similar situation in the latter is caused by labour migration, mainly to Vladikavkaz and Akhalgori. At this stage, nothing is known about the school in the village of Akhmaji, although it will most likely be closed in the near future, as the school did not admit any students this year. As far as the Democracy Research Institute is informed, the only first-grader living in the village was enrolled by the parents in the Akhalgori Georgian high school instead of Akhmaji.

 

According to DRI, the schools of the Akhalgori district met the start of a new school year unprepared in terms of infrastructure and health care. No minor cosmetic repairs or disinfection were carried out in the classrooms before the start of the studies, even though the above had been a common practice in previous years. This creates an unfavorable situation for both students and staff of educational institutions, especially given the pandemic.

The above facts prove that the policy of pressure on the ethnic Georgian population and discrimination on ethnic grounds has been deliberately pursued in the occupied region for years. The clearest example of the above is the restriction of access to education in the mother tongue.

[1] Radio Liberty, 2017, Education in the Georgian Language Abolished in the Akhalgori District", available:

https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/kartuli-enis-sakitkhi-akhalgorshi/28671045.html