Armenia: MoE project triggers students' protests

More than five hundred students have gone on strike today in protest against the initiative of the Ministry of Education (MoE) to make the study of the history of Armenia, the Armenian language and literature optional at non-humanitarian departments.

Over 500 students and teachers of various universities have declared a strike, Gevorg Gyulumyan, a protester and a fourth-year student of the Philology Department of Yerevan State University (YSU), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to his story, all the students of the YSU's Philology Department take part in the strike. Those from the History Department of the YSU, as well as of other universities have joined them. The action was supported by the public organization "Kamk", which is fighting to preserve national traditions.

Students have launched a collection of signatures against the project initiated by the MoE and aimed at removal of the Armenian language, history and literature from the list of compulsory disciplines. "The minister's initiative is unacceptable for us," Mr Gyulumyan has emphasized, without specifying how many signatures they have already collected.

He has added that the strike will continue until the MoE withdraws its project. According to his story, on November 7 and 11, the NGO "Kamk" and the youth wing of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" Party will hold protests in front of the buildings of the government and the MoE, where the demand of resignation of Araik Arutyunyan, the MoE head, will be declared.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 6, 2019 at 05:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.