The Problems and Challenges of Mother Tongue Education in Abkhazia
Keywords:
mother tongue education in Abkhazia, multilingual education.Abstract
This research aims to describe and analyze the existing situation of mother tongue education in de facto republic of Abkhazia. Content and statistical data analyses research methods were utilized in the study. The content and statistical data analysis showed that mother tongue education is not guaranteed in Abkhazia for Abkhazians, Georgians and Armenians due to political, educational and economic factors. Author will argue that it will be difficult to depoliticize the educational system and control economic factors for launching mother tongue multilingual educational reform in Abkhazia; however, international organization focused on education and development together with Georgian and Abkhazian groups can implement several important pilot programs of multilingual education based on internationally acknowledged best practices.
References
Bekerman, Z. (2005). Complex contexts and ideologies: Bilingual Education in conflict-ridden areas. Journal of Language Identity and Education, 4 (1), pp. 1-20
Bekerman, Z., Zembylas, M., & McGlynn, C. (2009). Working toward the Deessentialization of Identity Categories in Conflict and Postconflict Societies: Israel, Cyprus, and Northern Ireland, Comparative Education Review, 53(2), 213-234. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/597482
Campell, N. (2013). On the Peace Line. In Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies (pp. 45-57). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Chirikba, V.A. (2009) Развитие абхазского языка в условиях полиэтнического общества: вызовы и перспективы.Available at http://apsnyteka.org/file/Chirikba_Razvitie_abkhazskogo_yazyka_v_ usloviyah_ polyetnicheskogo_obschestva.pdf. (Accessed on September, 15, 2017
Clogg, R. (2008) The Politics of Identity in Post-Soviet Abkhazia: Managing Diversity and Unresolved Conflict," Nationalities Papers , 36 , (2):305-329;
Comai, G., & Venturi, B. (2015). Language and education laws in multi-ethnic de facto states: the cases of Abkhazia and Transnistria. Nationalities Papers, 43(6), 886-905.
Deeb, I., & Kinani, N. (2013). Changing Our Reality. In Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies (pp. 33- 44). Palgrave Macmillan US
Department of Education of Sukhumi (2016) Data on Abkhazian-Russian School of Sukhumi. Accessed on September 15, 2017 at: http://www.sukhum-education.org/
Department of Statistics of de facto Republic of Abkhazia (2016), Statistical Data on The Population of Abkhazia, available at: http://ugsra.org/ofitsialnaya-statistika.php?arrFilter_ff%5BSECTION_ ID%5D= &set_filter=%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%80&set_filter=Y(accessed 15 September 2017).
Department of Statistics of de facto Republic of Abkhazia (2016), Statistical Data on Education in Abkhazia, available at: http://ugsra.org/ofitsialnaya-statistika.php?arrFilter_ff%5BSECTION_ID%5D= 10&set_filter=%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%80&set_filter=Y (accessed 15 September 2017).
Department of Statistics of de facto Republic of Abkhazia (2016), Statistical Data on Birth and Death Rates in Abkhazia, available at: http://ugsra.org/ofitsialnaya-statistika.php?ELEMENT_ID=155 (accessed 15 September 2017
Department of Statistics of Georgia (2002), Statistical Data on The Population of Georgia, available at: www.geostat.ge (accessed 15 September 2017).
Department of Statistics of Georgia (2014), Statistical Data on The Population of Georgia, available at: www.geostat.ge (accessed 15 September 2017).
Downe‐Wamboldt, B. (1992). Content analysis: method, applications, and issues. Health care for women international, 13(3), 313-321
European Court on Human Rights (2014) Cyprus vs. Turkey. Accessed at http://www.rulac.org/assets/downloads/Cyprus_v_Turkey.pdf
Gabunia, K. (2014). Language situation in modern Georgia 2. Caucasian and non-Caucasian languages.
International Journal of Multilingual Education, 2(2), 1–21. doi:10.22333/ ijme.2014.4001 Gallagher, T. (2016). Shared education in Northern Ireland: school collaboration in divided societies. Oxford Review of Education, 42(3), 362-375.
Grenoble, Lenore A. 2003. Language Policy in the Soviet Union. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Gvantseladze, T. (2010). Functioning of the Abkhazian Language in Education. Bilingual Scholarly Peer- Reviewed Journal Spekali.
Hammarberg, Thomas. 2013. “Report on Human Rights in the Transnistrian Region of the Republic of Moldova.” United Nations, February 14.
Iovu, A (2017). Ethnic minorities in the context of de facto statehood: the situation in Transnistria. Paper presented in the workshop of Young Researchers in Regensburg; Regensburg, 2017
Jaoshvili, V. 1984. Georgia’s Population in the 18th-20th Centuries. Tbilisi, (in Georgian).
Kim, Y. (2013). Multicultural education in social studies textbooks in South Korea and the United States: A comparative analysis(Doctoral dissertation).
Komakhia, M. 2008. Georgia’s ethnic history and the present migration processes. Central Asia and the Caucasus 1, no. 49: 154–160.
Krstevska-Papic, B., & Zekolli, V. (2013). Integrated Education in the Republic of Macedonia. In Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies (pp. 135-145). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Linguapedia.info (2011) . Абхазский язык. Accessed on September 15, 2017 at /languages/abkhaz.html http://linguapedia.info/languages/abkhaz.html
McGlynn, C., Zembylas, M. & Bekerman, Z. (Eds) Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
McKendry, E. (2007). Minority-language education in a situation of conflict: Irish in English-medium schools in Northern Ireland. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10(4), 394-409.
Milcev, V. V. (2013). Building bridges at the earliest age through the Mozaik Model for multicultural pre- school education in Macedonia. McGlynn, C., Zembylas, M & Bekerman, Z. Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies, 121-135.
Nancen Dialogue Centre (2017) Nansen Model for Integrated and Bilingual Education. Accessed at the web- site: http://ndc.net.mk/documents/nansen-model-for-integrated-and-bilingual-education/
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (2016) Ethnic Minorities and Civil Integration in Georgia. Accessed on September 15, 2017 at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/271456?download=true
OSCE HCNM (2008) Statement by Knut Vollebaek. Accessed on September 15, 2017 at: http://www.osce.org/hcnm/32569?download=true
OSCE. 2012. The Moldovan-Administered Latin-Script Schools in Transdniestria. Chişinău: OSCE Mission to Moldova and OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
Papaskiri, Z. (2010). Abkhazia. Istoria bez falsifikatsii.Tbilisi
Public Defender of Georgia (2015). Special Report of the Public Ombudsman of Georgia, Right to Education in Gali District: News of the 2015-2016 Academic Year and Related Novelties. Tbilisi. 2015
Salman, J. S. (2013). A Practitioner’s Reflections on Schooling in Bilingual Integrated Contexts. In Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies (pp. 157-169). Palgrave Macmillan Sputnik-Abkhazia (2016) Школьная статистика Абхазии. Accessed on September, 15, 2017 at: lhttp://sputnik- abkhazia.ru/infographics/20160316/1017530670.html
Spencer, A.E.C.W. (1987) Arguments for an integrated school system. In R.D. Osborne, R.J. Cormack and R.L. Miller (eds) Education and Policy in Northern Ireland. Belfast: Queen’s University Belfast and University of Ulster, Policy Research Unit
Svanidze, G.(2002) National minorities in Georgia, review. Retrieved on March 25, 2002, from the website: www.minelres.lv.archive.htm
Tabatadze, S. (2015a). Teachers’ approaches to multicultural education in Georgian classrooms. Journal for Multicultural Education, 9(4), 248–262. doi:10.1108/JME-07-2014-0031
Tabatadze, S. (2015b). Textbooks for minority schools of Georgia; Problems and challenges. International Journal of Multilingual Education, 3(1), 1–12. doi:10.22333/ijme.2015.5001 Tabatadze, S. (2017). Minority education in Georgia: Is it delivering what is expected. Journal of Diaspora, Minority, and Indigenous Education, 11(1), 17–30. doi:10.1080/ 15595692.2016.1245658
Tabatadze, S. (2017). Minority Education in Georgia: Is It Delivering What Is Expected?. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 11(1), 17-30.
Tabatadze, S., & Gorgadze, N. (2017a). Approaches to multiculturalism in teacher education programs in Georgia. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 12(3), 239-253.
Tabatadze, S., & Gorgadze, N. (2017b). School voucher funding system of post-Soviet Georgia: From lack of funding to lack of deliverables. Journal of School Choice, 1-32.
Tabatadze, S., & Gorgadze, N. (2018). Selective intercultural sensitivity to different sources of cultural identity: study of intercultural sensitivity of students in Georgia teacher education programs. Journal for Multicultural Education, (just-accepted), 00-00.
Tabatadze, S. (2018): Mother Tongue Education in Conflict-Affected Regions: The Case of Abkhazia. Version: 1. Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS). Text. http://doi. org/10.15457/cp_1_167-196
Tabatadze, S., Gabunia, K., & Odzeli, M. (2008). Recommendations on language policy to protect linguistic minorities. Tbilisi, Georgia: Centre for Civil Integration and Inter-Ethnic Relations
Tankersley, D. (2001). Bombs or bilingual programmes?: dual-language immersion, transformative education and community building in Macedonia. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 4(2), 107-124
Trier, T., Lohm, H., & Szakonyi, D. (2010). Under Siege. Inter-Ethnic Relations in Abkhazia, London: Hurst.
Zembylas (2010) Negotiating co‐existence in divided societies: teachers, students and parents' perspectives at a shared school in Cyprus, Research Papers in Education, 25:4, 433-455, DOI: 10.1080/02671520903156603
Zembylas, M., & Bekerman, Z. (2013). Integrated Education in Conflicted Societies: is there a need for new theoretical language?. European Educational Research Journal, 12(3), 403-415
Zembylas, M., Bekerman, Z., Haj‐Yahia, M. M., & Schaade, N. (2010). The politics of mourning in Cyprus and Israel: Educational implications. Compare, 40(5), 561-574.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.