Language Research

5. Costs: What does it cost in terms of money, time and government resources to police the country's language restrictions?

Updated (January 2008)

A SPECIAL PROGRAM DIRECTED TOWARDS THE INTEGRATION OF AZERBAIJANIS INTO GEORGIAN SOCIETY

A special program directed towards the integration of Azerbaijanis into Georgian society has been launched. Its primary focus is on the educational system. The Azerbaijani themselves, however, doubt the efficiency of the program.

Under this program, Azerbaijani minority, although allowed to use their native language in school, must study the Georgian language.

Georgian President Saakashvili informed about this issue at the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe in Strasburg and stated that the key goal of the program was the educational issue of Azerbaijanis living in the country. President also noted that the job problem of Georgian Azerbaijanis would be tackled in the near future.

However, the Azerbaijanis have not been familiarized with the existence of such program. Alibala Askarov, the head of the Heyrat Popular Movement of Azerbaijanis in Georgia, said he had doubt about it – if there was such a program, the problems of national minorities would not be included. He noted that the integration in Georgian society should not lead to the assimilation of the native Azerbaijani language, national pride and rights of all national minorities.

Source: Trend (news agency), January 26, 2007 by N. Kirtskhalia and S. Ilhamgizi http://news.trend.az/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1120688&lang=EN

Top of page

Updated (April 2008)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION LAUNCHED A NEW PROGRAM FOR MINORITY STUDENTS TO HELP THEM PASS THE UNIVERSITY ADMISSION EXAMS

In order to stop young people of minority background to leave the country for studying at colleges and universities abroad and to make it easier for them to study in their own country, the Ministry of Education and Science decided to translate the Unified National Examination general aptitude tests for university admission into Armenian and Azerbaijan languages for 2008.

Although translating the general aptitude tests increases the chances for minority applicants to pass, the key challenge for them remains - they must still take the tests in the Georgian language.

The Education Ministry has launched Unified National Examination Access Course Program - a project enabling equal access to Georgian language education for minorities. The program budget is 240,000 GEL and will start in September 2008. Within the period of seven months, participants will get ready for exams in Georgian, and they will be granted a monthly allowance equal to 100 GEL.

The three largest ethnic groups represented in Georgia are Georgians (83.8 percent of the population), Azeris (6.5 percent), and Armenians (5.7percent). Hence, discussions about minority issues revolve mainly around Azeris and Armenians. Among policies directly impacting the effectiveness of integrating national minorities, education is most prominent.

Georgia's public defender, Sozar Subari, stresses the importance of the language for integration. According to him, a requirement from the Georgian Government that minorities should learn the Georgian language is a very positive phenomenon as the poor knowledge of the language is a real barrier for minority members to fully integrate into society.

The United Nations Association of Georgia as part of its National Integration and Tolerance Program launched a report in December 2006, which found that ethnic minorities felt increasingly estranged from the rest of society because they lacked proficiency in the national language. In the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, three quarters of those polled said that they did not know Georgian.

Georgian is the only language of instruction in Georgian high schools, with a few exceptions of Russian and English language programs. Before the reforms conducted by the Ministry of Education, each institution administered its own exams and decided the program requirements.

In 2005, the National Assessment and Examinations Center, an agency subordinate to the Ministry, introduced the Unified National Examination for University Admission (UNE). It consists of three compulsory standardized tests: Georgian language, general abilities, and a foreign language (Russian, English, French or German).

In the report “Education's Impact upon the Integration of National Minorities”, Transparency International Georgia says that situation went from bad to worse - in the first year, there were two versions of the Georgian language test (one for native speakers and one for non-native speakers). In the second year of the exam, there was only one version of the test for all. Consequently, the number of minority students entering Georgian universities has declined. The report highlights that “minority representatives argue that this policy is discriminatory, since ethnic minorities (especially from the regions) cannot possibly compete with students graduating from Georgian language schools on equal footing.”

During the Soviet era, Russian was a shared second language in Georgia, thus there was no need for ethnic minorities to learn Georgian. After the collapse of the empire, the Russian language has lost its status in Georgia and the necessity to learn national language has greatly risen for minorities.

The Minister of Education and Science, Gia Nodia, thinks a system of bilingual education can provide the fastest solution. At a recent Parliamentary Committee session, he stressed that the issue was a high priority for him because he has been working for years on minority education policies. He added that it is highly important to conduct the right policy so the situation will improve and gradually change.

Source: The Georgian Times online, February 25, 2008 by Kristine Pataraia http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=9466

Top of page