ABOUT VASIL KOPTONASHVILI’S PEDAGOGICAL AND PUBLIC ACTIVITY

Abstract

Vasil Koptonashvili had to live in a different and interesting epoch in the II half of the XIXc. and in the I half of the XXc. He carried on the national activities having begum in Samtskhe-Javakheti by the old generation of Meskhetian educators. He worked in different villages of Georgia. Namely, he taught Georgian in the village school in Tolati, Tianeti, in the schools of the villages Muskhi, Chunchkha, and Khertvisi in Meskheti, in Manglisi private gymnasium and in Sakire public school. From the 90s of the XIXc he was a member of the “ Society to spread literacy among Georgians” from Samtskhe-Javakheti. Vasil Koptonashvili was engaged in folklore activities too. He not only collected ethnographic materials but also was an author of ethnographic letters from the life of Meskhet- Javakheti. He systematically published articles in Georgian journals and newspapers. His valuable memories about Georgian public men- Vazha-Phavela and Ilia Alkhazishvili have an important place in his heritage.