School in Armenian Village Evacuated Due to Fire

Fire erupted on Tuesday morning in of the classrooms of the school in the village of Vardenis in Armenia's Aragatsotn province, the ministry of emergency situations reported, stating that the building has been evacuated by rescuers. “91 students and 20 teachers have been removed from the school building,” officials said.

Two months ago, on September 27, students of the same school had boycotted classes, refusing to continue studying at unfit and unheated classrooms. Classes, however, resumed after regional authorities promised to finish the construction of the new school building – the foundation of which was laid back in 2012 – by October 10. 

On Monday, November 28, Epress.am spoke with Ashot Davayan, the head of the regional administration's urban development department, who insisted that the building was ready and needed only to be equipped.

Vardenis village head Kamo Petrosyan, for his part, told Epress.am that they were using diesel fuel to heat the old school building. “We're lucky it has  not gotten too cold yet. I met with the governor the other day, and he said that the new equipment issue of the new school was being taken care of,” Petrosyan noted.