GTU Rector – Consistent Policy Ensures Functional Expansion of the Language in Education, Science, and Public Spaces

“For 48 years now, April 14 – Mother Language Day – has been a symbol of the state’s attitude towards the Georgian language and national unity. The events of 1978 have made it clear that the Georgian language is one of the most important pillars of our identity, cultural continuity, and state consciousness, the protection, preservation, and development of which is the obligation of each of us. The Georgian language is a unique cultural heritage, the vitality and progress of which determine its ability to maintain a worthy place in the international space in the coming centuries,” says Academician David Gurgenidze, Rector of the Georgian Technical University.

On April 14, 1978, for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, the communist regime retreated, to which the students of the Georgian Technical University also made a great contribution.

According to the rector, universities are the space where language is preserved, developed, enriched, and adapted to the new reality. As academician David Gurgenidze states, the Georgian Technical University makes its contribution towards protecting the Georgian language from the dangers of digital extinction.

“The contribution of our university is multifaceted and includes such areas as the development of technical and engineering terminology, the creation of Georgian-language educational and scientific materials, the translation and adaptation of textbooks, as well as encouraging the new generation of scientists to conduct research and innovative activities in Georgian.

In this direction, the university’s publishing house and the academic publishing system have been creating Georgian-language textbooks, monographs, and educational materials for years, which supply to the development of engineering and technological literature in Georgian. The strength of the language is directly reflected in the scale and quality of the areas where it actually functions. Strengthening the Georgian language in science naturally leads to its strengthening in public life, in state institutions, and maintaining its viability in future generations.

The Research Institute for the Cultural Preservation and Technological Development of the State Languages ​​of Georgia is successfully operating at the Georgian Technical University. Our scientific circles are deeply aware of their historical responsibility and are involved in the process of protecting and preserving the state languages, in order to ensure the place of natural languages ​​in digital and artificial intelligence systems through academic knowledge, scientific research, and innovation, with the aim of ensuring that the Georgian and Abkhazian languages ​​do not remain just a legacy of the past, but become part of the digital culture of the future.

The development of the Georgian language is impossible without the systematic support of the state, in particular the government, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, and the Minister of Education, Science and Youth, Givi Mikanadze, because it is precisely a consistent policy that ensures the functional expansion of the language in education, science, and public spaces”

– Academician David Gurgenidze

For information, April 14 is celebrated as Mother Language Day in Georgia. This day was established in 1990 to commemorate the events of 1978. On April 14, 1978, demonstrations were held in Tbilisi in response to the Communist Party of Georgia’s attempt to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. On April 14, 1978, about 15,000 people marched from Tbilisi State University to Rustaveli Avenue. Other citizens joined the students and representatives of the intelligentsia, and almost 100,000 people gathered on Rustaveli Avenue. The communist regime retreated.