Controversy Over Proposed Educational System Overhaul: A Coincidence or By Design?

Azerbaijan has attacked Armenia and Turkey has joined them in carrying out major joint military drills as we speak. The country is still in a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But, there is one other significant controversy brewing in Armenia that has gotten the attention and sharp criticism of rapidly growing circles in Armenia – a wildly ambiguous and highly criticized set of changes in the entire educational system, which many believe strip young Armenians of vital education that is necessary for the youth of a nation with such a rich culture, heritage and history; a country surrounded by enemies and country with a cause that has yet to be brought to its rightful and just conclusion.

Ever since coming into power Prime Minister Pashinyan and his Education Minister, Arayik Harutyunyan have talked about carrying out educational reforms. However, they have failed to review and address the educational strategic plan the previous government had prepared for review and adoption by the newly elected government in 2018. Contrary to the PR spin Pashinyan gives on things – not everything from the old is by default bad, as may be the case with the mentioned strategic plan. Nonetheless, the government has had more than enough time to review and (even) debunk the presented plan and create their own.

But the fact is they have done nothing regarding strategic planning. In addition to making one wonder what tangible work the Education Ministry has actually done in this regard (especially when lavish bonuses have been distributed quite generously to ministry employees), there is significant speculation that the absence of a strategic plan is not just another failure of the ministry, but done intentionally – leading to further mistrust of the already unpopular Harutyunyan.