The school with 132 students built in the Saralanj village of the Artik region in 2009 still remains in dampness. The school also has a preschool with 12 children. Even before entering the school building, the plasters left on the walls are already visible (see photo).
According to principal Makich Sargsyan, the floors of all classrooms are rotten.
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The roofs are leaking, the walls are moldy, and the hall is in a terrible condition. Aravot addressed this issue in 2016, saying that the school was built in a hole, in such a position that rainwater and melted snow pour into the school building, destroying the floor, walls, and the most terrible thing, the children’s health.
“We use as many options as possible. We brought the boards from our houses, the steward’s house, the old club of the village, and we are patching the floor of the school, but it’s still the same thing. It is a 21-year-old school. We have felt the humidity since the 4th year of construction. The floor was completely rotten. It already didn’t have a floor in 2005-2006. During these 21 years, the floor has been changed for the second time. In 2011, when we changed the floor, it was already gray,” said the principal.
The latter notes that the fight against humidity does not come cheaply on the school budget; it costs a lot. “We buy anti-fungal materials. Every day, the cleaners remove mold from all the places that can get moldy and fungal growth. Thank God, we don’t have the diseases associated with it yet, it’s thanks to our work. We can save that money, buy information technologies, but we buy such materials to wash them from the walls.
After classes, we clean with vinegar and antifungal agents, so that the next day at least the children can study in a normal classroom. We don’t have any diseases because we heat normally with electricity. We direct all means to the heating, so that at least during the winter the humidity does not increase. We do everything with limited funds because it was financed by the number of students. There is very little money left from the funds, but we direct all the money to the purchase of heating and materials, we do not give rewards to teachers, nor do we spend extravagantly. We even raise the money for paper and straw to support the school,” Makich Sargsyan said.
The director said that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was also at the school. He visited the village during the NA extraordinary election campaign, and was also invited to their school. The latter entered the hall, said that he could not stay like this, and promised to either thoroughly repair the school or build a new building. However, the school does not have clear information whether it was included in any school building program.
“I don’t know now whether our school was included in the program or not. By 2026, 300 schools will be built,” says the principal. According to his calculations, 20 million AMD are needed just to install a drainage system, and 15-20 million AMD for interior finishing works. According to the principal, this is a huge amount, it will be easier to build a new one than to repair it. The city planning department of the Shirak municipality told us that the Saralanj school is not currently included in any school building program.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
