ARMENIAN SCHOOLS IN TBILISI: THE END OF THE STORY
Tamara Vardanyan
16.01.2012
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
Return
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Another materials of author * THE POLITICAL IMPLICATION OF THE
TURKISH-GEORGIAN “CULTURAL” DIALOGUE[23.06.2011] * ARMENIANS OF
TBILISI: NEW REALITIES [14.04.2011] * PECULIARITIES OF BILINGUAL
EDUCATION FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE NATIONAL IDENTITY[20.10.2010]
* The Armenian community in Tbilisi: conclusion[11.12.2006]
http://noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=6243