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16.01.2012

ARMENIAN SCHOOLS IN TBILISI: THE END OF THE STORY

   

Tamara Vardanyan

Expert at the Center for the Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation, Candidate of Science (History)

The most important sphere regarding the issues connected with the Armenians from Tbilisi is the education. Providing Armenian oriented education is crucial and even strategic task which can be solved only by means of the Armenian schools. Without Armenian schools the activity of a number of other circles makes no prospects: if there is no school, the Armenian newspaper will have no reader, Armenian theatre – spectator, Armenian TV – audience, Armenian Church – believer. Their absence will definitely promote assimilation of the Armenians in the Georgian environment, and the Armeniancy of Tbilisi will stop existing as a part of the Armeniancy in general. Thus, the issue of preservation of the national identity of the Armenians in Tbilisi is first of all connected with normal activity of the Armenian schools. And though many acknowledge this simple truth, nevertheless, the situation in this sphere is worsening gradually.

Glorious past

The Armenians in Tbilisi inherited mighty national educational system. It its suffice to remember Nersisian Gymnasium (1824) where Perch Proshyan, Ghazaros Aghayan, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Khachatur Abovyan, Derenik Demirchyan, Stepanos Nazaryan, Ervand Lalayan and many other celebrated persons studied. The glory of the past is so strong that it allows nourishing from it spiritually till now and looking hopefully to the future. While speaking about educational issues one of our interlocutors remembered the Nersisian Gymnasium and said: “When Catholicos Nerses established the Nersisian School, 80% of the Armenians living in Tbilisi did not speak Armenian, but that man strengthened that school so that everybody automatically went there. If there is good school, parents will see that there are good prospects”1. So this brilliant example still inspires the Armenians in Tbilisi who are aware of the history of the Armenian Tbilisi. But it is impossible to survive long only by means of the inspirations from the past. Today that heritage has disappeared and it is necessary to take into consideration new realities.

Soviet past

Over the Soviet period the Armenian schools continued their almost unimpeded activity. Being involved in the Soviet educational system, they even embarked on a new stage of development. In the Soviet Georgia, in the districts of Tbilisi populated by the Armenians, as a rule, the Armenian children attended Armenian schools, with the rare exceptions, mainly of the children from mixed marriages. In 1976, e.g., in Tbilisi 32 Armenian schools worked, the graduates of which had good possibilities of getting higher education in various higher education establishments of a big country, as the educational level almost everywhere was the same (with small differences). Among good prospects the Armenian department of the Tbilisi Pedagogical Institute after A. Pushkin, the Armenian universities and institutes as well as other institutions can be mentioned.

Post-Soviet decline

In the post-Soviet years the situation gradually worsened. In 2006-2007 the community already had 7 schools, of which only two were fully Armenian – #95 and #104. The others were Armenian-Russian, i.e. there were two departments in one school – Russian and Armenian. In those years in all 7 schools 732 pupils studied.

Over the 20 years which have passed since the independence of Georgia, the Armenians have been sending their children neither to Armenian, nor even to Georgian, but mostly to Russian schools. As a result about 90% of the pupils of the Russian schools and 75-80% of teachers are the Armenians. I.e. the Russian educational system in the capital of Georgia was mainly formed and acted due to the Armenians. Though over the first years the flow to the Georgian schools also increased on about 15%, nevertheless, the Armenians mostly preferred to receive Russian education. Probably, there were several reasons and the first one is the inertia which came from the Soviet years when people felt themselves the citizens of big Russian space. The other reason was that most of the parents saw the future of their children not in Georgia, and unfortunately no even in Armenian, but abroad, particularly, in Russia. But there was also another important reason, i.e. the Russian schools provided the Armenians from Tbilisi with a kind of transitional or intermediate status. Hiding in the vanishing shadow of a “mighty language” and once “mighty empire” a considerable part of the Armeniancy, thus, tried to avoid the absorbing influence of the Georgian ethno-cultural environment, which has been gaining strength gradually.

It is not a secret that the number of the Armenian pupils in the Armenian schools is annually decreasing. Among many other reasons (to which we will not refer in this article as we have covered them for many times before), the issue of the quality of education should be singled out. In recent years the so-called “complex classes” have been formed in several schools. If the number of the pupils was not enough for forming one class (by state funding), several classes were merged (e.g.1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and etc. grades), and the lessons were taught by one teacher. In consequence, the teachers’ staff was reduced, and correspondingly, the state financial burden was also reduced. Undoubtedly, this all affected the quality of teaching, caused discontent among the parents, and the number of the pupils continued to reduce. Thus, the formation of such classes has even deepened the crisis.

Current condition

Today we can state that the history of the Armenian national education in Tbilisi is coming to its end. The decline was, of course, boosted by the “reforms” of the Georgian authorities in the sphere of education, but the Armenian party also has its share of guilt – the Armenians in Tbilisi were not prepared to countering those challenges which aroused after the independence.

In the recent years such big Armenian schools such as #93 and #110 have irretrievably sank into oblivion. Thus, the Secondary Armenian School #93 was in the Armenian district – Havlabar. Back in 2006 the situation was formed when everybody realized that the school was going to be closed. In those years 60 pupils studied in the Armenian department and 340 pupils in the Russian. And the majority of those studying in the Russian department were the Armenians. But serious steps were taken directed to the Georgification of the school. Firstly, Georgian department was opened, for the account of the pupils of the Georgian school #98 who were moved to this school. Before that school #98 was partially burned down. The opinion existed among the local Armenians that the fire pursued far-reaching objectives. At those times there was a popular belief that the partial burning of the building would grant an opportunity to privatize it and sell as private property. However, those both incentives might be present simultaneously. Placing of the Georgian school inside the Armenian firstly caused problems connected with the distribution of the classrooms, as well as with the shift of the lessons, then the Georgian department began gradually absorb the Armenian. Today the school #93 is fully Georgian.

School #110 is situated in the other district where many Armenians live – “Metrostroy”. It was rather big Armenian school, the pupils of which successfully participated in various contests. Many events were held at the school. Last summer it was closed and its pupils were moved to the neighbouring school #103. Previously the director of the school was fired; at first, he was substituted by the deputy director and then it was closed. Today the Armenian director of school #110 is a deputy director at the Georgian school #103 and many Armenian teachers were selected for redundancy.

The Armenian departments at schools #131, 132 and 82 where they could not gather first formers are also on the verge of closing (it should be mentioned that according to the law the availability of three pupils allows opening a class). In the aforementioned schools only senior classes has remained and after the graduation the Armenian departments will automatically be closed. However, even moer gloomy prospect is available too: when those departments are closed before the graduation of the pupils studying there. The point is that though only three pupils are enough to form a first form class, the sixth forms should be composed of at least 18 pupils, otherwise the directorate has a right to dismiss the class and the pupils (and in the high school there should be at least 21 pupils). Today, the number of the pupils studying in those classes is not inspiring and it is doubtful whether the classes will remain Armenian in the high school. If those classed are closed, it is not excluded that a part of the pupils would prefer rather to stay at the Georgian department of the same school than to move to the school with the Armenian department but which is far from the place they live.

Let us mention that the transport expenses take important place among the reasons, which impede children attending Armenian schools. We personally could see when the parents, on the assumption of preserving national identity, took children to the Armenian class, which, however, was far from the place they live. After a while, when the classes had not begun yet, he was wondering whether he made a right choice. The fact that the first formers are usually accompanied to the school by their parents doubled their transport expenses. Not all the parents are able to overcome this problem. According to the recent information, the aforementioned story had a positive ending due to the aunt of the child who made efforts, convinced, even offered to render financial assistant for the child to receive the Armenian education.

This summer it became clear that the authorities decided to close Russian schools, substantiating it by the fact that the graduates of the schools showed bad results at the graduation exams. There is an opinion that the graduates of the Russian schools were initially underscored (we present the rumors as in reality it is not that important whether those are grounded opinions or not. It is more important that the existence of such proves the distrust towards the authorities among the Armenians). Whatever, the Russian schools were closed. As they were mostly attended by the Armenian pupils, after their closing there were two ways out – either to reclaim their roots or to finally take the road of Georgification. This September there were still some hopes that after closing of the Russian schools there would be flow to the Armenian schools or the Armenian departments. But unfortunately, it has not happened.

Being obliged to make a choice most of the parents decided to send children to the Georgian schools.

One of our interlocutors who is rather aware of all those issues said: “Once there was an opinion that if there were no Russian schools the Armenians would go to the Armenian schools. But life proved that it wasn’t like that. The Russian schools were closed and there was a flow not towards the Armenian but towards Georgian departments. As for the first formers maybe their number is bigger as compared with last two or three years, but the reason is that there is only one Armenian school in Tbilisi left”2. Let us mention that last year the number of the first formers was 21 and this year it is 28 children.

Thus, at current moment there is only Armenian school left - #104, where 207 pupils study and one Armenian-Georgian school (#103) where they managed to form first form this year (only 15 pupils).

End of the story or change of the tactics

The current situation demands from the Armenians a drastic change of approaches and perception of the situation. It is necessary to acknowledge that the Georgian state authorities carry out policy of destroying the Armenian school system and thus, they have obtained some results. Today only one Armenian school survived and we believe it will continue to work as even Georgian authorities need it in order to show it to the international circles.

It is known that only a comprehensive educational system may prove the existence of the schools. Such a system includes teaching process from preschool age up to the higher educational institutions.

While sending their children to school the overwhelming majority of parents think about the further prospects of entering the higher educational institution. The broader possibilities of entering the university in the future school renders, the more pupils go there – this should be clear to anyone dealing with the school issues.

Tbilisi Pedagogical University after A. Pushkin, where the Armenian department had existed since 1939, for many years had provided the Armenian schools with not only teachers of the Armenian language and literature but also teachers of physics, mathematics, chemistry and other subjects in Armenian. In the Soviet years the department had on average 10 students annually. Today this institute does not exist anymore. It merged with the Institute of Foreign Languages and turned into I. Chavchavadze Language University where there is no separate Armenian department. It was merged with Azerbaijani, Russian and other languages departments and there is almost no replenishment at the Armenian department. The point is that number of hours of the Armenian language and literature are curtailed and consequently even teachers with big experience are left without job. It is clear that the school leavers are not interested in entering the department after the graduation of which they will face serious problems with finding job. This problem should have been solved by the establishment of the Armenian-Georgian University which was initiated by the former prime-minister Andranik Margaryan, but for recent years it has finally fallen into oblivion.

Conclusion

So, what solutions can be offered to get out of the current situation? It is necessary to take under wing the only Armenian school and to help its pupils and teacher as much as possible. Connections and relations between the schools can be established, and not only with the schools from Yerevan but also from Vanadzor, Stepanakert and other cities.

But even the aforementioned measures will not set the problem. The establishment of a private school (or schools) and at least of one university (and it is not important at given moment whether it will be state Armenian-Georgian university or simply private Armenian university) is necessary. Let us mention that in case with public (state) schools obstacles are created when someone wants to organize facultative studies of, for example, Armenian language or history on Saturdays or Sundays in the schools where the overwhelming majority of pupils are the Armenians. As for the private educational institutions the state cannot interfere into its affairs to such an extent. By the way, there are two big schools in Tbilisi which are sponsored by the government of Azerbaijan and even Georgians express wish to study there.

It is necessary to elaborate programme of long-term actions in order to overcome the crisis the Armenian schools in Tbilisi appeared in. Of course, investments are necessary for that, but we believe that most of the problems of the Armeniancy are conditioned not by the financial scarcity but by the absence of will.

1 Interview #2, Tbilisi, 14.09.2011. Personal Archive of T. Vardanyan.

2 Interview #7, Tbilisi, 14.09.2011. Personal Archive of T. Vardanyan.

“Globus National Security”, issue 6, 2011

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