Recently, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport published its program for the new standards of public education, which mostly stirred discussions surrounding the “history of the Armenian church” subject. The majority of its critics did not even read the document, naturally, but they strictly condemned the decision to “remove this subject from public schools.” In reality, this decision does not exist. The issue is something else entirely: these standards are reminiscent of the Central Committee plenum’s resolutions. They can be discussed in any way, and if they can be discussed in this manner in schools, then these standards will have the same fate as Chernenko’s “reform.” To be fair, it is important to say that the ministry is right in theory and this can be proven by the example of the “controversial” subject. The history of the Armenian church can be taught for 6 hours every day, which could result in having graduates who are full of cynicism, disbelief, and bitterness. Or, it is possible to present the teachings of the Armenian church and our spiritual beliefs in other ways that would allow students (regardless of their individual faiths) to display positive values and traits when they graduate. That is why we need different schools, different principals, and different teachers. But it is not clear from these standards how we can achieve that.
Read the entire editorial in Armenian: https://www.aravot.am/2020/07/22/1125022/?fbclid=IwAR3JiVLFZYdXGx9gOLl1VKou6OcRm0kneksHnbQAyuW8l-eDTkZpxpdKUAY
Aram Abrahamyan
