Peculiarities of teaching ethnic minorities in Soviet and post-Soviet Georgia (on the example of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages)

The paper is about the issues of teaching ethnic minorities in Soviet and post-Soviet Georgia on the example of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages. The research is a scientifically unstudied issue, because no special scientific research has been conducted on the teaching of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages.
The dissertation discusses the peculiarities of teaching Abkhazian and Ossetian languages in the 19th century, during the period of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, in the Soviet era and in post-Soviet Georgia. In the research, a proper place is given to the modern state of teaching Abkhazian and Ossetian languages both in the controlled territory of Georgia and in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia. Although it is currently difficult for Georgian scientists to obtain appropriate information from the Abkhazian and Ossetian sides, taking into account our scientific contacts, we have obtained data on issues related to the teaching of the Abkhazian and Ossetian languages.
The research is structured in chronological order. Important political events and changes were determined as the principle of periodization, which caused systematic changes in important issues for research. In the research of Abkhazian and Ossetian language teaching, we use comparative research methods, narrative method, documentation analysis, and use empirical research methods to investigate the peculiarities of Abkhazian and Ossetian language teaching in the post-Soviet era.
The main conclusions of the research are:
The teaching of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages was carried out from the beginning with the involvement and active participation of Georgian educational spaces; In teaching the Abkhazian and Ossetian languages, the educational policies of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union are often similar; In the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921), there were opportunities to use the languages of ethnic minorities living in Georgia and to teach in these languages; In the 20s-50s of the 20th century, the changes of the Abkhazian and Ossetian alphabets were characterized by similar trends and were determined by the language policy of the Soviet Union; Frequent changes of Abkhazian and Ossetian alphabets threatened the Abkhazian and Ossetian educational process, the creation of original Abkhazian and Ossetian literature; In the 60-80s of the 20th century, the teaching of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages was characterized by stability. During this period, the alphabets no longer change, school and university textbooks are published, a significant part of Abkhazian and Ossetian young scientists continue their studies at a University of Tbilisi and scientific-research centers; The GeorgianOssetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflicts and armed conflicts that arose in the 90s of the 20th century, as well as the 2008 war, significantly affected educational processes, including Abkhazian, Ossetian, and Georgian education; The government of Georgia implements several initiatives and programs for entrants living in the occupied territories of Georgia; Abkhaz and Ossetian youth lack access to international education; Russian language has a great influence on the usage of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages, Russian-language school and university education causes a tendency to reduce the original literature and translations in Abkhazian and Ossetian languages; The teaching of Abkhaz and Ossetian languages both in the controlled territory of Georgia and in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia contains errors, Abkhazian and Ossetian languages are rarely used by young people in formal environment and professions.
At the end of the paper, recommendations are presented regarding the improvement of the teaching of Abkhazian and Ossetian languages.