Society

Many people feel consoled that the number of the foreign language schools is limited by the same package of amendments that allows their opening, which stipulates that there will be 11 foreign language schools in Armenia, in the 2 plus 9 format. The law, however, does not limit the number of potential schoolchildren who could attend those schools nor does it limit the breadth of the buildings. This means that theoretically the number of schoolchildren attending foreign language schools could be unlimited. At the same time, those schools could have branches in the regions and cities all over Armenia, which legally will not have the status of an autonomous (unit) school. That is, scores of schools can enter the formal limit of 11 schools set by the law. Even as we consider—or try not to—the ashotyan package a crime against the self-awareness of Armenians, we can’t help but observe that those 11 schools set by the law will very soon be labeled as elite schools. Some tens of qualified teachers, who still exist in Armenia, will, in their search of a higher salary, relocate to those elite schools where the descendents of narrow-minded wealthy individuals obsessed with the mania of forgetting their origins, will gather.

Regular schools thus deprived of average and higher level pedagogues will immediately be considered second-rate schools, where the educational level will drop below today’s zero level, reaching likkayan levels (schools for illiterates in the Soviet Union). It is here that average Armenian parents will be faced with a difficult choice: Should they take their children to second-rate schools where they can’t even achieve basic literacy or give in to the snobbish, narrow-minded game and throw their children into the disgusting environment of insolence?

The majority of Armenians will be faced with this choice. If we consider the ashotyan draft resolution in this context, it becomes evident that most Armenians will be deprived of the right to be educated; especially if we take into consideration the fact that the tuition of elitist schools would also be elitist. And so, most Armenians will have to choose between not being educated and staying human and not being educated and not staying human. It is obvious that the neo-elite schools will not provide normal education, but will just make inter-elite communication and marriage easier, as well as help form a generation for whom fatherland will signify urbane and not Armenia. Moreover, American, European, Russian urbanites will have equal opportunity in this “Joint Stock Company.” While non-elite, regular schools will be contented with teaching letters, i.e. producing potential servants for the elite. In brief, we stand before new challenges because of the ashotyan hirelings: close down both elite or soviet-inherited schools as soon as possible and finally create a truly Armenian school which will be able to imbue their graduates with the spirit of citizenship in the Armenian Republic.

NIKOL PASHINYAN
www.nikol.am
From Kosh Penitentiary

An opinion at the University is that this change has to do with the fact that Rector Yuri Suvaryan, who is a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences, hopes to become a full member of the NAS, for which he wants to win the support of the new pro-rector’s father, NAS academician-secretary V. Barkhudaryan. In an interview with our reporter, Suvaryan denied the opinion and stated that in 2006 he became a corresponding member of NAS exclusively on the basis of his own reputation.

The gatherings of the parents and relatives of applicants in front of examination centers, and the hysterical and nervous atmosphere dominating those gatherings, are proof of the fact that the Armenian citizen lives in his country just as wild animals live in their homeland, the jungles. Like the inhabitants of the jungles, the inhabitants of Armenia are also separated into predators and herbivores. The first of them tear the second to pieces, while the carrion-eaters scavenge and live off of the leftovers of the first, the leftovers of the seconds’ lives. Yesterday, the shouts of the parents, discontent at some incident related to the mathematics examination, were like the shouts of deer that appear in the middle of the wolf pack and try to save their babies from the predators’ jaws. It is not important whether the examinations are passing fairly or not, whether the shouting parents were right or not, what is important is their perception of the simple, usual entrance examinations. They consider their children who are taking the entrance examinations to be in the role of the lambs who are in the wolf pack, and this instinctive perception is based on experience. Every time the examinations in Armenia become more and more “fair,” and as a result every year the number of hyena-bearers who earn diplomas increases. And they continue the work initiated by their carrion-eating parents at the courts, police, taxation and customs departments. Their parents do not need to create hysteria at the examination centers, or even to appear there; they know the price of Armenian examination justice with mathematical precision.

With posters saying “Cows, do not enter the cathedral of the Armenian language! Do not confuse it with a stall!” “Do not enter the cathedral of our language, it’s the only thing that is ours, you have fouled up anything else like beasts!”, quotations from Vano Siradeghyan’s works written as early as in 2002, as well as with posters saying “No to an illiterate elite! Think until it is not too late” and other posters the members of the initiative “We are against foreign language schools” met the parliament members, yesterday. The parliamentarians were entering the government building to participate in the NA session with the initiative members’ whistling and chants: “shame on you”, “traitors”. Serzh Sargsyan’s brother, parliamentary member Sashik Sargsyan was met by participants chanting “pazik, pi, biz.” Sargsyan muttered abuses under his nose and showed a combination of three fingers. Under the pressure of the initiative’s members, and as a result of the NA opposition members’ actions the adoption of the draft resolution of the law on “Language” and “Public education” through which foreign language schools would have been opened in Armenia, failed yesterday.

Our reporter asked RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan yesterday whether by this initiative RA authorities wish to reopen Russian schools in an attempt to lessen the anti-Russian mood that has increased among Armenians in the past few years, and for which Russian analysts have blamed the RA authorities suggesting that the latter project Russian authorities to the Armenian public as supporters of their policies. As a result, the antipathy of Armenians towards the RA authorities has also turned into anti-Russian attitudes. “Indeed, a significant segment of our citizenry harbors anti-Russian attitudes. But our initiative is merely educational and not dictated by any need to please any country or alleviate their displeasure,” said Ashotyan.

Recently, RA Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan is not leaving television screens. This nationalist minister, who considers himself an ardent follower of Nzhdeh, has been furiously explaining the necessity of foreign language schools in Armenia. According to Ashotyan, the need to open foreign language schools is related to his childhood dream of improving the quality of education in Armenia. But the most important thing that the minister wants to make us believe is that he is doing all of this on his own initiative and on the initiative of his “team,” that is, on the initiative of the ruling authorities. And Ashotyan is doing this with such an expression on his face that one can hardly help but almost believe it. In reality the story is quite different, clearer and more understandable. Just a few months ago, in November of 2009, in Moscow, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Alexander Yakovenko openly declared that it is necessary that CIS countries pass a law giving Russian the status of the second official state language. And the most interesting part is that Yakovenko made this statement during the conference held by the “Russian World” Foundation. This always happens to those who are in the habit of talking big: our authorities, who are building the “Armenian world,” will have to open Russian schools in Armenia, because some deputy minister has declared something at the “Russian world” conference.

I myself do not understand the meaning of making students wear uniforms of a single design, but I also do not rule out that somebody could have a convincing and reasonable argument for this issue. Yet, the arguments currently presented not only fail to be persuasive, but they are also incomprehensive and full of trickery. The principals who are in support of the uniforms of a single design assure that in this way they are trying to minimize the manifestation of social inequality in schools. This means that if all the students wear the same uniform, it will not be obvious who is rich and who is poor. But let’s think for a while: now when there is no uniform of a single design, how do the clothes of a student betray his social condition? You are right, by its look of being worn-out. Thus the schoolchild in colorful and new clothes is from a wealthy family, while the schoolchild in worn-out and faded clothes is from a poor family. The “concerned” principals want to remove this very difference by making the pupils wear uniforms of a single design. The problem, however, is that all the clothes have the tendency of wearing out, including the uniforms of a single design. And this means that the children of wealthy families will buy and wear a new set of the uniform of the same design every month, while the children of poor families will wear the same uniform during the whole year and that worn-out uniforms will betray their social condition, social inequality in general, even more. The same was true in Soviet schools: although everybody was wearing uniforms of the same sample but the difference of their social conditions was imprinted on those uniforms. But even if we ignore the uniform for a bit, regardless it will not be possible to remove social inequality in schools unless the social inequality itself is removed, or somewhat balanced. Let’s say the uniform of one design is accepted: will we also accept bags, pens, exercise books, shoes, coats, sports shoes, watches, hairpins, sport wears of the same designs? And what about cell phones and faces of a sample design. The enumeration above indisputably proves that the kicking and screaming speeches of some election falsifying principals, saying that they want to have uniforms of a sample design to remove or lessen the manifestation of social inequality in schools, do not correspond to reality. Such experiments are usually just an opportunity to grasp money from parents, especially from poor parents. The bosses of school structures just want to have their share of the profits of Bangladesh or similar kinds of trading centers, which are the main suppliers for schoolchildren and, as I understand, at more reasonable prices than the election falsifier principals offer. In general, as far as I know, in civilized countries uniforms are worn in those schools, which have high ratings, educational ratings, so high that it is an honor to be a student of that school. And so the students by wearing uniforms with symbols of their schools on it emphasize their educational achievements. Meanwhile, in Armenia the uniforms of a sample design will symbolize the achievements of school bosses in the sphere of impudent huckstering.

NIKOL PASHINYAN
www.nikol.am

The Great Patriotic War ended with the victory of May 9, 1945, saving humanity from a dangerous evil. The Armenian people, together with other Soviet peoples, gave its utmost, and gained the right to consider the victory to be their own. On May 8, 1992, Shushi, one of the most important cultural, educational and political centers of Armenian people, was liberated. The victory of Shushi was not only symbolic, but also, as a real victory, it was a turning point in the history of the Karabakh war. The Armenian National Congress congratulates the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the participants of the Karabakh war and all Armenians on the occasion of the two holidays. The people, who have won victories and therefore have a radically changed psychology, cannot tolerate the lack of any freedoms or the existence of any constraints, and have gained the inalienable right to live freely and with dignity in this country.

At the end of March “Yerevan Jur” (Yerevan Water) CJSC applied to the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission to verify taxes for drainage services and for potable water supply in Yerevan. This is the official form of the appeal. In reality, though, “Yerevan Jur” has applied to increase the taxes. Accordingly, the combined tax for one cubic meter of portable and drainage water should be raised from 181.9AMD to 207AMD. As per our information, the issue is scheduled to be discussed on May 25. As to what the commission will decide is hard to predict at this point. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that the condition of the system supplying water to Yerevan, which is rented by the French “Generale des Eaux ” Company, is getting poorer day by day, and the amount of water wasted increases year by year. According to some accounts, water waste in 2009 was at 70-80 percent; our tax on the sold water includes the wasted water as well, meaning that we are financing this waste. But we will return to this problem. Now let’s pay attention to another fact. In effect, we now buy one cubic meter of water for 50 cents. And this, in a country that has no shortage of natural water resources. In the Arabian Peninsula, which has no natural water resources, seawater is desalinated and distilled by means of expensive and enormous pieces of equipment. And guess how much one cubic meter of water costs there. You’re right…it’s 50 cents. To distill seawater it is first necessary to boil it, then to cool the steam, and then distill… In a word, the spring water, which is right under our noses, is sold to us for 50 cents, exactly as much as water distilled by energy consuming equipment built through vast investments.

The Dilijan-Ijevan section of the Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Georgia interstate highway, one of the most congested roads of Armenia, is still blocked. On April 14, some cars were bypassing the landslide near Hovk village through a small road that the local inhabitants managed to flatten, through the mountains and forests. However, because of the almost constant rains of the past few days, this road has also become impassable. The rain has also caused the construction of the temporary road on the highway, at the location of the landslide, to slow down. According to “IjevanJanShin” CJSC, which provides services in the territory where the damaged road is located, besides the weather conditions, other unpredictable conditions are also impeding the construction works. In particular, while working with the soil, the workers encountered a huge rock, which is impossible to move with the existing equipments. The only way to get rid of the rock is to explode it. The vehicles, which can move detonating fuse and corresponding equipments, cannot reach the mentioned location because of the weather conditions. The constructors predict that at best the temporary road will be ready only in about 20 days.

Besides reducing the number of free quota by 50 percent for the upcoming academic year, for instance, there will also be no free quota at the government order for the two most popular specializations in Yerevan State University: Jurisprudence and International Relations. The public is informed about such abrupt changes only now, when little time is left for the admission examinations. Maybe many of the future applicants were preparing for exams to be admitted in the free quota placements of those departments’, which have higher tuition fees. They might not have done so, and instead might have chosen a cheaper specialization if they had heard about this surprise earlier.

The people shown in the photograph are not rock climbers, nor are they foreign tourists. They are simply people trying to get from Ijevan to Yerevan and have to bypass the landslide on the 114th km section of the Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan highway by climbing the mountains. The Ministry of Transport and Communication released a statement yesterday, whereby the “Amarasshen” company is currently constructing a detour using “European technologies,” and that construction will be completed within the next two weeks. According to locals, work is indeed in progress here: a few tractors are “adjusting” the road that passes by the cemetery in Hovk village. The road has unbearable inclines that become impassable in rainy weather.

According to opinions voiced recently by some official sources, the RA Ministry of Defense may be entrusted with the reconstruction of the highway. But yesterday, RA Ministry of Defense Ministry press secretary Seyran Shahsuvaryan told our reporter that the Ministry of Defense would in no way participate in the reconstruction of the highway. “The Ministry of Transport and Communication and other civil companies will do that.” We were also informed yesterday that a road has been opened not far from the place of the landslide through the efforts of the local inhabitants. However, since that road is difficult to travel on, it is extremely dangerous for any traffic, especially in rainy weather.

One car was pulled into the ravine by the landslide. Fortunately, the passengers managed to get out of the car. There are no injured or dead. According to preliminary observations, the reconstruction of the road may take some months.