Yerevan State University employee and Coordinator of Student Programs, Eduard Galstyan, joined students in their protests demanding the resignation of Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport Arayik Harutyunyan. In a press conference at the Tesaket club, Galstyan said that he is not an exception and other professors and employees at YSU joined the fight. Many others have expressed readiness to join.
“We are not pleased with the draft that is circulating regarding the law on Higher Education and Science in Armenia, despite the fact that there are claims that this law is only in its working face. Overall, this draft became the topic of many discussions and it was sent to different universities where it was discussed by academic councils. The academic councils at just about every university were not satisfied with the draft.”
He said that no one has specifically mentioned making it mandatory to teach the Armenian language, literature, and history, which is where their dissatisfaction stems from. Eduard Galstyan believes that these subjects should not be taught based on discretion. “First of all, any specialists in Armenia need to be fluent in Armenian. Since not all students have to take admissions tests on the Armenian language, many students either do not know Armenian well, or they do not learn Armenian. The same goes for Armenian history.”
The YSU employee believes that, if there were no issues in secondary schools and if 12th-grade students knew the Armenian language, literature, and history well, they would not have the need to take those subjects again. But since that issue has not been resolved, it is not a good idea to make those subjects voluntary in non-specialized departments.
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Eduard Galstyan said that the students have stopped striking at the request of their professors. This was not based on rumors that Arayik Harutyunyan implied that students who were absent from class would be removed from school, or that any employees who joined the students would be fired. “At this point, all protests have ceased, but meetings with academic councils and professors are taking place. We will discuss the results of these meetings on Monday,” Galstyan said. He added that they are demanding a discussion on this subject.
Gohar Hakobyan
