The opposition party United National Movement (UNM) has lashed out at Georgia’s Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth, accusing the agency of facilitating the country’s Russification.
Irakli Pavlenishvili, chairman of the governing board of the National Movement, held a briefing outside the Ministry of Education building, questioning why Russian schools continue to operate in Georgia.
“The Ministry of Education has turned into yet another gate of Mordor in Georgia. It is the Ministry of Education that allows people from Russia—that is, from Mordor—to spawn Russian schools and kindergartens across Tbilisi like mushrooms.
Numerous other schools operate in Tbilisi where children study under the Russian educational curriculum. They are taught that Georgia is the aggressor, and that Abkhazia and so-called South Ossetia are independent countries. These children receive no Georgian education at all, do not learn the Georgian language, and are being shaped into a parallel society.
Russians open businesses and schools, and then settle here, ending up completely isolated from Georgian society because they do not even learn the Georgian language. Ultimately, Georgian citizens are being displaced in Georgia.”
According to Pavlenishvili, it is unacceptable for schools that have not received state authorization (accreditation) to operate in the country. This applies not only to Russian institutions, but also to other educational facilities “where children receive an education in their own language based on the curricula of their homeland.”
“For example, branches of schools from Moscow, Voronezh, and other cities have opened here, and as a result, citizens are being molded who have no ties to Georgia or Georgian identity. Therefore, it is crucially important that this regime, which pursues an anti-Georgian, anti-state policy and fosters Russification, be removed from power as soon as possible.
I put this question to Mr. [Minister Givi] Mikanadze and the rest: why are unauthorized schools operating in Tbilisi, why are they mushrooming, and why are tens of thousands of children receiving an education that has nothing to do with Georgian citizenship?” Pavlenishvili stated.