The new Cumans

Thousands of English teachers arrive in Georgia from the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and even India.

A few days ago President Saakashvili announced that Georgia is going to experience a new revolution. Mikhail Saakashvili, being a revolutionary leader himself, is obsessed with this term. During his presidency Georgia has gone through “revolutionary economic reforms”, “revolutionary struggle against corruption” and now a new “revolution” is coming. Indeed, the new educational reform is intended to be a real revolution, a crucial point in the lives of a whole generation.

According to the President’s plan, all children in Georgia should speak English fluently and the English language should replace Russian as the language of international communication. Thus, English will become a required course and Russian will become an optional subject as Chinese, Turkish or Arabic.

Thousands of English teachers will come to the country from the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and even India in order to provide Georgian schools with the necessary staff. President Saakashvili has said that if King David invited thousand of Cumans to Georgia to strengthen its statehood, he himself is going to invite thousands of English teachers for the same purpose.

The problem is that this reform will alter the lifestyle of a whole generation. The Russian language was the most influential one in the Caucasus for hundreds of years and this reform will ruin the cultural links that now connect Russia and Georgia.

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusivelyto VK.