The Abkhazian government has denied reports that the Education Ministry has taken additional measures to promote the patriotic education of students and teachers.
The denial came after a resolution on additional measures to promote patriotic education of students and teachers was circulated on social media, which the Abkhazian government claimed was a fake document.
‘Resolutions and orders of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Abkhazia are published on the official website of the government’, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers said.
However, back in July, Education Minister Hanna Gunba said in an interview with the Russian state-run news agency Sputnik that a centre for ideological and moral education would be established in Abkhazia, which would train teachers and mentors for Abkhazian schools.
‘They will take courses here [in Abkhazia], with our teachers, professors, and employees of the Institute of Pedagogics and the Academy of Sciences. After which they will undergo training at the Artek education centre’, Gunba said at the time.
Prior to that, the first deputy head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko, spoke about mentor teachers at a meeting in Sukhumi (Sukhum) on 11 July.
Kiriyenko said that the Russian side would pay for the work of mentor teachers — their salary is expected to be approximately ₽40,000 ($500) per month.
The topic was also broached in early August during a meeting with Abkhazian President Badra Gunba and Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov — during the meeting, the issue of patriotic education in Abkhazian schools was also discussed.
Gunba emphasised the importance of preserving cultural identity and systemic educational work, noting the need for effective approaches to patriotic education and the formation of value orientations in the younger generation. Particular attention was paid to the role of a new specialist in the field of education, a teacher-mentor.
‘Based on best practices, the meeting participants formulated proposals for its functionality and integration into the school environment’, an official readout of the meeting read.
According to Kiriyenko, Abkhazia cannot blindly copy the Russian model, as there is a significant difference in mentality and reality.
‘Abkhazia has its own peculiarities, there can be no carbon copy here. Indeed, traditional values in Abkhazia should become the basis of what the teacher-mentors will do. Our task is to pass on all the accumulated experience’, Kiriyenko said.
Teachers and parents show scepticism about the programme
Several teachers agreed to talk to OC Media on the condition of anonymity about how schools plan to approach this programme.
‘To be honest, I don’t see any need for mentor teachers in our schools, we don’t have biology, geography, or physics teachers, we don’t have good mathematicians, there are even problems with Russian language teachers. Our children are well-mannered. Parents are coping with this for now, the children have someone to bring them up, but there is no one to teach them. We need specialised teachers, not [teacher-mentors]’, a teacher at a school in Sukhumi told OC Media.
However, outside of Sukhumi, the opinion is a bit different.
‘If Russia pays the salaries, then why not. At least our village kids will have some incentive to work at school. Maybe the rest of the teachers will get a raise’, a teacher at a rural school told OC Media.
Conversations with local parents have also revealed mixed opinions.
‘I am still a Soviet girl, I remember how we also had all sorts of political instructors. Do you think they taught children anything? No, they only squealed on how long the skirts of young teachers were, and how brightly they painted their lips [...] we don’t need any [teacher-mentors] in schools, they need to find better chemistry teachers’, the mother of a schoolboy told OC Media.
‘I think that such [teacher-mentors] are needed. You should see what high school students do instead of lessons. They have adopted the habit of skipping lessons. Then they run to the shore, smoke vapes under the bridge, or you know what they do in the botanical garden’, another parent said, hinting at a recent episode where 10th grade students were filmed having sex in public.
‘Let at least someone teach our children the basics of traditional values while their parents are busy’, the parent continued.
OC Media has been unable to find out how the recruitment process for teacher-mentors is progressing.
As of publication, the most recent statement on the subject stems from 21 July, when Education Minister Gunba said that recruitment had begun.
‘Applications are being accepted from today, you need to fill out a form on the ministry’s website and go through an interview’, Gunba told Sputnik Abkhazia.
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.
Nate Ostiller
