Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian schools and Georgian educational institutions with Armenian departments in Tbilisi recently marked the start of a new academic year.
“Basically, they’re closing down Armenian schools. The reason is the number of students. Children aren’t going to Armenian schools, there’s a tendency, according to which more prefer to apply to Georgian schools, and only then Armenian or Russian. By our forecasts, soon there will be one Armenian and two Russian schools in Tbilisi,” said Armenian Assembly in Tbilisi Director Arnold Stepanyan in an interview with Azatutyun Radio (RFE/RL Armenia).
Stepanyan pointed to the No. 110 secondary school in Tbilisi, which was restructured recently. “Until then, No. 31 school in Tbilisi had also closed,” said Stepanyan, explaining that one of the reasons for the decline of students in Armenian schools is the general education policy adopted by Georgian authorities.
“According to that new policy, education in the 10th and 11th grades is offered only in Georgian. For that individual who hasn’t mastered the language, it’s very difficult to learn geography or history in Georgian,” he said.
According to Stepanyan, the Georgian authorities explain the need to restructure Armenian schools purely as a financial consideration. In Georgia’s educational system, a so-called “voucher” system is in place: the amount of funding allocated to a school depends on the volume of students and, accordingly, vouchers.
“Each voucher is a few dozen lari [Georgian currency]. If the volume of vouchers is low, teachers don’t have the possibility of receiving a normal salary,” said Stepanyan.
He also said that he discussed the fate of Armenian schools with Georgia’s education ministry officials prior to the start of the new school year.
“It was about two, three months ago that we met with Georgia’s First Deputy Minister of Education. He promised us that no Armenian school would be closed in Tbilisi. The deputy minister, basically, deceived us,” said Stepanyan.