Following Gali, Russian replaces Georgian in all schools of occupied Akhalgori
Akhalgori district occurred under Russian control after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war. Photo: newspost.ge.
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All first to eighth graders in eight schools of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district, which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Georgians, will now be forced to study in a Russian-language curriculum, the NGO Democracy Research Institute (DRI) says.
DRI states that since 2017, by the decision of the de facto Tskhinvali government, Russian has step-by-step replaced Georgian in all schools of Akhalgori.
At this rate, in about three years, Russia will fully replace Georgian in the schools,” DRI says.
DRI has called for the usage of all levers to stop the illegal process which violates fundamental human rights.
Russian has already fully replaced Georgian in all schools of the Russian-occupied Gali district, which is also inhabited by ethnic Georgians.
Tbilisi has strongly condemned the move and urged the international community to respond to the ‘grave violation of human rights and international law.’
The Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions of Georgia, which comprise 20 per cent of the country’s territory, are currently occupied by Russia.
The Georgian Education Ministry has strongly condemned a full ban on Georgian and its replacement with Russian in schools of the country's Russian-occupied Gali district.
Students of all grades in Georgia’s Russian-occupied, mostly ethnic-Georgian-inhabited Gali district will have to receive secondary education in Russian, the de facto Abkhaz Education Ministry has decided.
The Georgian government and the Ministry of Education have made a decision to enroll all the students from Georgia’s western occupied Abkhazia region after they faced serious obstacles to sit university exams in early July due to the closure of the so-called border by occupying forces just prior to the exam season.
A Georgian student has severely cut his hand while trying to cross the occupation line between Georgia and its western occupied Abkhazia region yesterday, as the de facto authorities closed the only checkpoint with the rest of Georgia on June 27.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has congratulated the public on Abkhaz Language Day earlier today. Garibashvili emphasised that the Abkhaz language along with Georgian ‘is protected by the Constitution of Georgia and the state has a special obligation to preserve and develop it.’