TBILISI—Facts about cases of discrimination against Armenians in a local public school were reported to Georgia’s Human Rights Ombudsman by the Armenian Community of Georgia, a non-governmental organization operating in Tbilisi.
The ACG called on the public defender’s office to investigate incidents of discrimination and violation of minority rights in the Armenian Section of Public School No. 103 in Tbilisi. The group also presented documentation to the Ombudsman regarding the school administration’s alleged involvement in the incidents.
The group says the administrators of the school continues to teach classes in Russian, attempts to shut down the Armenian section of the school by interfering in the registration of 1st graders to the program, pressures parents to enroll their children in the Georgian Section of the school and has not initiated a third grade in the Armenian sector.
The complaint also said that teachers are under constant emotional duress, Armenian language courses have been dropped and nine of the 18 teachers in the Armenian section were fired, with the administration claiming that while they were on vacation, Armenian classes were eliminated and cancelled.
Copies of the appeal were sent to the Georgian President, Education and Science Minister, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, the Prime Minister, the representations of the UN and EU in Georgia.
The group said that in the past efforts to work with the office of the Public Defender and the education ministry have not yielded any response from officials and numerous appeals have been unanswered. The ACG said that the condition in the school have gotten worse.
