What will 12-year compulsory education give to pupils? (video)
Earlier this week, the Armenian Parliament passed a law on switching to 12-year compulsory education. The law will be applied starting from 2017. Many in Armenia think 12-year compulsory education is an ‘excessive burden’ on schoolchildren. “The person who does not want to study and spend three more years at school can do a more useful thing instead,” says Ashot Bleyan, Founder and Principal of Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex. “How can you force residents of rural areas living in extreme poverty to attend school for 12 years? It means they cannot plow their lands, breed animals or mow fields to earn money and help their families. Who is going to feed their needy fathers and mothers if boys are forced to go to school instead of working on the fields?” Compulsory 12-year education will include, upon the student’s desire, either a complete secondary education or an intermediate professional education. Work must not become an obstacle for pupils to receive complete education, said the Ministry of Education and Science. Moreover, the mandatory provision of the law will force them to become competitive. “We should make children understand that everyone can learn, even if they think that they do not want or they are unable to,” says Narine Hovhannisyan, Head of the General Education Department of the Ministry of Science and Education of Armenia.
