Lack of 4 textbooks at high schools
Do Armenian high schools have textbooks or not? The principals of some schools say no, while the RA Ministry of Education and Sciences claims the opposite.
"You know the question and the answer to that question very well. There are no textbooks and the parents are confused," said Karine Muradyan who is principal of "Galiot" private high school which received licensing from the Ministry on August 17.
Head of the National Institute of Education Norayr Ghukasyan told "A1+" that all textbooks have been printed and delivered to the schools. "The only textbook that arrived late was the German language textbook. All other textbooks have been confirmed and warranted. If there are copies of the textbooks on my desk for the past 10 days, I can't assume that those textbooks didn't reach the schools by a miracle."
According to him, high schools currently lack 4 textbooks for Russian language and biology and that only refers to the humanities. Norayr Ghukasyan says though there is a curriculum, teachers and academics are not able to create corresponding textbooks. "Some suggest taking the textbooks, translating them and adapting them to our curricula," says Mr. Ghukasyan.
There are nearly 5-6,000 students enrolled in the humanities and the issue related to the textbooks for Russian language and biology have been solved to a certain extent.
The National Institute of Education examines all textbooks. According to Norayr Ghukasyan, school principals order the books according to the number of students and usually print 5-10 percent more than the expected number. The textbooks are sold and the annual payment ranges from 250-480 drams a year.
