Admission to kindergartens is more difficult than admission to YSU (video)
The school optimization plan should be part of a bigger project. The move will be ineffective only by merging schools without other changes, says an education expert. "I am for optimization because Armenia cannot afford many luxury things, and we should try to achieve good results with minimal resources. But the process must be complete.” said Serob Khachatryan. “We should look at the education system through a magnifying glass before starting optimization. In Armenia, we often make episodic and fragmentary reforms,” he continued. The optimization plan, designed to address the unequal school overload in urban areas, proposes merging secondary schools with 300 or less students. It was proposed by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan who raised the issue at the Ministry of Education and Science. He justified the plan by the need of redistributing costs to raise teachers’ salary. Serob Khachatryan says optimization should not be seen as a result of business thinking to save money. He cited Serzh Sargsyan who said that by 2040 the population of Armenia should reach 4 million. The specialist says if the country’s leadership has such a plan why they are closing schools in the country. “Likewise, kindergartens were shut down in Armenia. When they became free, all parents took their children to such kindergartens. Now all kindergartens are overloaded. Many have poor building facilities and infrastructures. Today, it is more difficult to have one's child admitted to a kindergarten than to Yerevan State University,” he said. Serob Khachatryan is also concerned about the fate of rural schools and says they have much more serious problems to address.
