Secondary School No. 1 in the village of Opreti, which has a long history, hosted a vibrant festive concert attended by representatives of the Georgian Football Federation and GeorgiaPress.

The smallest Russian school in Georgia has seven students, including children from nearby villages. Local residents say the school rarely receives visitors. It is located near the border with Armenia, in a highland village in the Marneuli Municipality, where winter lasts almost half the year. 

The trip to Opreti had been planned for a long time. Some of the gifts—a tablet, books, and a cash prize—were previously received by the students for participating in the International Literary Video Competition "I Am Here." For those who were unable to travel to the capital for the awards ceremony, the decision was made to bring the gifts directly to the school. Moreover, Mamuka Kvaratskhelia, head of the Open Fun Football Schools program and head of the Georgian Football Federation's stadium department, presented T-shirts and balls to all the school's students. Teachers were awarded certificates for Russian language development.

School Principal Arkadi Manucharyan thanked the Football Federation's leadership, Mamuka Kvaratskhelia, and GeorgiaPress Director Miranda Oganezova for their attention to the school and the joy they brought to the children. He also expressed gratitude to the editorial staff of KP in Georgia, which had previously written about the Opreti school.

Together with Mamuka, the children joyfully kicked a ball around in the school courtyard and then invited guests to a festive concert organized by the teachers and the students themselves, the youngest of whom is six years old. Each student performed in a theatrical performance in beautiful festive costumes, transforming into fairytale characters. Incidentally, a first-grader named Georgy has started school this year, and he's keeping up with his older classmates, actively learning poems and songs. Moreover, he's participating in a competition dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. In short, the students of the Russian village school, which is located at the highest point in the Marneuli municipality, at 1,041 meters above sea level, strive to achieve good results with minimal resources.

"We were really looking forward to the guests from Tbilisi. The children were delighted. Naturally, they were happy to receive their balls. We also had a festive evening that day. Two events coincided. It was a very emotional day. It's not often that we have guests. Currently, up to 50 people live in the village," the school principal noted, expressing his hope that the school's number of children will increase and that it will continue to function for as long as possible.

A school is not only an educational institution; it is a place for preserving the village itself, where life is vibrant. "A village without a school is a disaster," says Arkady Manucharyan.

The director explains that recently, residents who left their homeland 20-30 years ago have begun to return to the village. They are renovating and decorating their homes. However, only two or three families have returned permanently. They mostly come from Russia, Greece, Germany, and Cyprus, and spend the summer in their native village.

Returning to the History of Opreti

According to the official 2014 census, 80 people (39 men and 41 women) lived in Opreti. Georgians made up 46.3% of the population, Greeks 41%, Armenians 11.3%, and Azerbaijanis 1.2%. In 2002, the village had 158 residents.

According to open source materials, the ancestors of the Greeks living in the village of Opreti originated from the Akhtala and Alaverdi mines. Volunteer and blogger Inessa Kirsanova explains that the Greeks were renowned mining industrialists from the town of Gyumishkhane (Argyropolis) and arrived in the Kingdom of Georgia at the personal invitation of King Erekle II.