About 400 pupils from 27 schools countrywide took part in the second stage of a school competition on a topic “Let’s Take Care of Our Native Language” organized by Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU). The competition is underway in frames of No to Barbarisms movement. Rector of TSU, Giorgi Sharvashidze and school children attended the event dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Tbilisi State University and held under the patronage of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia for school children.
Rector Giorgi Sharvashidze delivered a lecture on a topic “University Education in Georgia”; Professors Tinatin Margalitadze also delivered a lecture on a topic “Processes Ongoing in Contemporary Georgian Language under the Influence of English Language and Their Causes.”
“This is a very important competition and we are glad that school children and teachers arrived from all regions of Georgia. Let me thank those professors of our university who launched No to Barbarisms movement. This movement has already covered entire Georgia. It is symbolic that the winners will be revealed and awarded on April 14 – the day when the country marks the Mother Language Day,” Rector Sharvashidze said.
TSU Professor Tinatin Margalitadze said that “public schools showed high interest and almost all regional schools participated in the competition. I think that we should start taking care of our native language just from this age. Today, we are holding the second stage. School representatives, teachers, principals, pupils and contestants have arrived to attend public lectures. Later they will have to write an essay on a topic “Why should we take care of our native language?!”
“We are so much accustomed to English and Russian terms that we do not even pay attention when we make mistakes. Similar projects can only be welcomed because they will help us understand our mistakes. The visit to the Tbilisi State University was very important for me because I wanted so much to familiarize myself with the university environment. Today I was provided an opportunity to do it,” Tamar Besalashvili, a public school pupil, said.
School children and their teachers were taken around the university premises and the Pantheon; they also familiarized themselves with the history of foundation of the university.
According to the rules of the competition, an essay contest will be held for schoolchildren on a topic: “Why should we take care of our native language.” The competent jury will reveal winning schools and pupils, who will be awarded at the Tbilisi State University on April 14, 2018 – the Mother Language Day.
