Georgia's Ministry of Education Holds School Competition "When I Return to Abkhazia"

SUKHUM / AQW’A — The initiative, organised with the participation of the Georgian Orthodox Church, highlights how narratives surrounding Georgia's territorial claims over Abkhazia are being embedded within the education system, argues Said Gezerdaa.

Said Gezerdaa
Lawyer at the Centre for Humanitarian Programmes, a civil society group based in the Sukhum.

Georgia's Ministry of Education, Science and Youth has organised a nationwide school competition entitled "When I Return to Abkhazia," drawing criticism for promoting a political narrative centred on the restoration of Georgia's territorial claims over Abkhazia.

The competition was announced by the Public Relations Service of the Georgian Patriarchate on its official Facebook page. Representatives of the Georgian Orthodox Church participated in the judging panel, including Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze, Head of the Patriarchate's Public Relations Service.

According to the organisers, the initiative attracted more than 2,500 pupils from approximately 400 public and private schools across Georgia. Participants submitted 1,270 entries in a wide range of formats, including essays, interviews, videos, drawings, informational brochures, and other creative projects. Winners received gift certificates for computer equipment and accessories.

While presented as an educational and creative initiative, the competition has attracted attention because of its underlying political message.

The title itself, "When I Return to Abkhazia," is particularly revealing. Rather than inviting pupils to reflect on different perspectives or explore the complex history of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, it presents a future "return" as an unquestionable certainty. The premise leaves little room for critical discussion and implicitly assumes a political outcome that remains deeply contested.

Equally significant is the institutional backing behind the initiative. This was not a campaign organised by political activists or nationalist organisations, but a project initiated by Georgia's Ministry of Education with the active participation of representatives of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The involvement of both the state and one of the country's most influential religious institutions illustrates how a shared political narrative is being conveyed through the education system.

The participation of the Georgian Patriarchate suggests that the initiative extends beyond education alone. Together, the state and the Church appear to reinforce a narrative in which Abkhazia is viewed primarily as a territory to be reclaimed, while alternative perspectives, including those of the Abkhaz population, remain absent.

From this perspective, the competition can be seen as part of a broader and long-term effort to preserve revanchist ideas within public consciousness. By encouraging children to imagine and creatively portray a future "return" to Abkhazia, the education system helps embed a particular political vision from an early age.

Such an approach inevitably leaves little space for acknowledging the realities that have shaped the region over the past three decades. Missing from this narrative are the existence of the Abkhaz people as a distinct political community, their own aspirations and perspectives, the traumatic legacy of the 1992–1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war, and more than thirty years of de facto independent statehood.

For many observers, the competition therefore raises broader questions about the role of education in shaping historical memory and national identity. Rather than encouraging dialogue or critical engagement with one of the South Caucasus' most enduring conflicts, initiatives of this kind risk reinforcing uncompromising political narratives among future generations.

See also:

+ Georgian Ministry of Defence Quotes Hitler (2009) 

+ Eric Hobsbawm on Nationalism and Distorting History: A Critical Reflection

+ Tbilisi's Banner of Hate: The Latest Nationalist Outrage in Georgia