Russian fully replaces Georgian in schools of Georgia’s 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. 

We Exist - the Voice from Abkhazia NGO reported yesterday that only 11th graders have been allowed in recent years to study in Georgian in 10 schools of Gali. 

Now the students of all grades will have to study in Russian, while Georgian will be studied as a foreign language. 

Gali came under Russian control following the Russia-Georgia 2008 war. 

Locals who wish to receive a higher education on Tbilisi-controlled territory often have to secretly cross the occupation line. 

• Georgian student injured while trying to cross occupation line to sit entrance exams

There have been cases when adults received serious injuries in the process. 

The central Georgian government offers special education and other services to the individuals living in the country’s occupied territories. 

• All 190 students from occupied Abkhazia enrolled after facing obstacles to sit university exams

Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions of Georgia, which comprise 20 per cent of the country’s territory, are currently occupied by Russia.