Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September, Trend corr. I.Alizade / The Georgian language is taught at 50 Azerbaijani schools to provide integration of Azerbaijanis living in Georgia into the society of the country, the State Committee for Azerbaijanis Living Abroad said on 24 September.
According to unofficial data, about 500,000 Azerbaijanis reside in Georgia, especially in Kvemo-Kartli (Borchali) region. A total of 124 Azerbaijani schools function in the Georgian regions, where Azerbaijanis compactly settled and 35,000 pupils study at the schools.
There will not be graduation at the schools in 2009 in connection with Georgia's transfer to 12-year education system. Therefore, the Azerbaijani youth have two years to learn the Georgian language well at the Azerbaijani schools.
About 1,000 pupils were involved to the courses opened at 50 schools. Most of them are pupils of high grade. Moreover, the youth, who finished the Azerbaijani schools in 2008 and failed to enter universities because of weak knowledge of the Georgian language, will learn the language at these courses: "Pupils, who will learn the Georgian language, will be divided into age groups. The courses will be held thrice a week after the end of lesson hour at schools. However, at present a proposal is being examined to increase number of the Georgian language lessons in future."
Teachers, who know both the Azerbaijani and Georgian language, will teach at the courses. Their salaries will be paid through the means allocated for the project. Fifty schools, where the courses were opened, will cover six main regions of Georgia, where Azerbaijanis compactly live, including Tbilisi city, Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi, Gardabani regions and Rustavi city.
The books, including Textbook for Georgian Language Learners, Georgian-Azerbaijani Phrasebook and Grammatics of Georgian Language, which have been developed by Ali Musayev and Novruz Bayramov and published each in 2,000 copies, have been distributed to the courses to assist Azerbaijanis in integration into the Georgian society.
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