“We have studied the case. We were informed that an open lesson was held in the mentioned school, the topic of the lesson was the neighboring countries, not only Azerbaijan,” RA Ombudsman Christine Grigoryan said at a briefing with journalists in the parliament on June 2 regarding the open class held on Wednesday at a school in Sevan where the Azerbaijani flag was presented. A journalist interrupted and asked if this also refers to the cuisine of Azerbaijan, in response to which Christine Grigoryan said, “The cuisine of neighboring countries. Do you see anything in the kitchen?”
In response to the remark about the necessity of referring to the kitchen in the open geography lesson, Christine Grigoryan said, “I do not see anything wrong with our knowledge of neighboring countries, educational content including knowledge of the flag, knowledge of national features, history, historical relations, and cuisine. From the point of view of the child’s awareness and development, it is very possible to imagine the environment in which he lives. As for why the kitchen should be included, the addressee of the question is the Ministry of Education. In my estimation, it is normal to know the flags of the neighbors, our history with them, to know such useful information that will help to emerge and become a citizen.”
In response to the journalist’s remark that until now the children had not seen the Azerbaijani flag raised in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, that there was a need to see the Azerbaijani flag in the kitchen lesson, the Human Rights Defender said, “I do not agree that the flags of all the neighboring countries should be presented to the geography class, except for one. I find it very shameful to target this kind of material and manipulate that material with children’s pictures. It is a very cheap manipulation. As an ombudsman, I urge you not to use images of children and class content in political conversations.”
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