Iakob Gogebashvili

Iakob Gogebashvili (1840–1912) was a Georgian educator, public figure, and the founder of scientific pedagogy in Georgia. He was also a publicist and a pioneer of children's literature in the country.
 

Gogebashvili’s active work coincided with the 1860s, a time when Georgia, then a remote province of the Russian Empire, faced the pressing challenge of preserving its national identity. After the abolition of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church, it was subordinated to the Russian Synod, leading to the introduction of liturgy in Russian. Georgian officials were systematically removed from government institutions and replaced with Russian bureaucrats. Schools became the primary tool for this Russification policy, with the Caucasus Education District appointing officials who aggressively sought to eliminate the Georgian language from schools, particularly rural ones, and imposed teaching methods that disregarded the native language.
 

Gogebashvili, initially a teacher and later an inspector at the Tbilisi Theological Seminary, strongly opposed this educational policy. He developed a comprehensive plan to reform the educational process and presented it to the seminary’s administration. However, this led to his designation as "unreliable for public service" and eventually his dismissal from the institution.
 

From that point on, Gogebashvili dedicated himself to public advocacy. Working alongside leaders of the national liberation movement, he actively participated in initiatives aimed at preserving Georgia’s national identity. He was a founding member and an active board member of the Society for Spreading Literacy Among Georgians. He invested his resources in public education, financially supporting underprivileged students and aiding Georgian students studying in higher institutions in Russia and abroad.
 

Gogebashvili’s primary focus was pedagogy. Even before the establishment of the Society for Spreading Literacy, he recognized the urgent need for Georgian textbooks and their role in shaping the spiritual world of future generations. In 1865, he published The Georgian Alphabet and the First Reader for Students, an innovative and experimental textbook for its time. He adhered to a child-centered educational philosophy and utilized progressive methods of the era, such as synthetic, analytic, and analytical-synthetic approaches. His later works, including Nature’s Door (1868) and Deda Ena (Mother Tongue, 1876), incorporated both Georgian educational materials and texts translated from foreign languages, as well as original compositions.
 

As the founder of Georgian children's literature, Gogebashvili wrote stories that seamlessly blended artistic realism with didactic elements, often drawing on Georgian folklore and historical material.

As an author, Gogebashvili was remarkably adaptive to the times and circumstances. He viewed textbook creation as a dynamic, interactive process, constantly revising and improving his works. His seminal textbook, Deda Ena, was republished 33 times during his lifetime, with each edition reflecting refinements to address the needs and realities of students and school environments. Through these efforts, Gogebashvili laid the foundation for a new model of Georgian national consciousness and established the mission of fostering this consciousness within the Georgian school system. This legacy is encapsulated in the words of Akaki Tsereteli: "The path you have paved will endure forever, and those who do not tread it cannot truly be called Georgians."