YEREVAN. – Representatives from Armenia’s Education and Science Ministry and capital city Yerevan Municipality held a joint consultation Friday, which was moderated by Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan.  

The discussants examined the avenues for providing education to Syrian Armenians who have come to Armenia as a result of the ongoing unrest in Syria. 

“A variety of problems are emerging in satisfying the educational needs of our compatriots, and the state is obligated to create all the opportunities to offer them education services. Everything must be done to create favorable conditions for our compatriots,” said, Ashotyan, the aforesaid Ministry’s press service informs.  

Reflecting on the ways for providing public education to Syrian-Armenian children, the Minister stressed that an agreement is reached, with Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan, toward conducting a uniform policy regarding this matter.    

Armen Ashotyan noted that some of the problems are resolved in the target schools. Also, he instructed the Department of Education Chief to implement this process in several high schools, too.  

And speaking about the teaching methods, the Minister noted that, either intensive Eastern Armenian courses need to be conducted, or the curriculum must be taught in Western Armenian, whose teachers’ quantity, however, as per Ashotyan, is currently lacking in Armenia.   

“Not ruling out the second teaching option, the emphasis should first be put on the [Armenian] teachers, who have come [to Armenia] from Syria. An attempt should be made to hire them in the given schools, and, also, to include appropriately qualified Western-Armenian [language] specialists into this process,” stressed the Minister.