SAAKASHVILI: STATE SHOULD HELP ETHNIC MINORITIES IN EDUCATION

Daily Georgian Times, Georgia
Civil Georgia
July 18 2007

Poor command of the Georgian language should not become "an insuperable
barrier" for ethnic minorities to enroll in Georgia’s universities,
President Saakashvili said on July 18.

Speaking at a government session Saakashvili said a special state
program envisages bringing hundred ethnic Armenians and hundred
ethnic Azerbaijanis from Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions,
respectively, at preparatory courses, which will help them to then
enroll in the universities.

He said it was not a fault of ethnic minorities that they do not
speak Georgian well.

"This is because of the fact that we [the authorities] were not
well-organized… I want to emphasize that the minorities urge us to
teach them the Georgian language," Saakashvili said.

Alluding to the fact that most of ethnic minority youth prefer to
enroll in universities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Russia, Saakashvili
said it was very important to create conditions wherein "our citizens
acquire knowledge not abroad, but in the capital and other cities
of Georgia.

In its report last year, the Brussels-based think-tank International
Crisis Group outlined the inability to speak the state language as
"the minorities’ biggest problem."