Private kindergartens are fined
Many private kindergartens are on the verge of bankruptcy today.
Directors say they are unaware of the new law on licencing and pre-school education adopted in 2006.
There are over 50 non-state kindergartens in Yerevan which have been fined up to 12 million drams.
Director of Kindergarten N53 Vachagan Mardoyan says they aim to educate children. Socially vulnerable families send their children to state kindergartens.
All directors of private kindergartens said unanimously that the Ministry of Education and Science had not notified them of the new law.
Director of "Eltaroz" Kindergarten Elen Mardoyan says they have sent letters to President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan but so far they have got no reply.
The directors hope that the top officials will address the issue one day and the government will annul the fine.
The directors have been instructed to pay the fines within six months.
"If the aforementioned 50 kindergartens are closed down, 400 people will appear in the street filling the ranks of the unemployed," says Vachagan Mardoyan.
They say none of Armenian oligarchs seems concerned over the issue though their children go to the disputed kindergartens.
