YEREVAN. – Students of the Yerevan State University (YSU) Faculty of Armenian Philology, who are protesting against the Higher Education and Science Bill and today have resumed their boycotting of classes, will stage a sit-in outside the office of the YSU Acting Rector, as of tomorrow.

"Mr. Rector has probably forgotten that he was elected by the university members," YSU Student Programs Coordinator Eduard Galstyan, who has joined these students with a labor strike, told Armenian News-NEWS.am. “Since he has shown that he does not want to hear us and does not care about the opinion of students and some staff, we will hold a sit-in in front of his office tomorrow, during business hours. They have decided to ignore the protesting students until the movement fades. We will make them understand that we cannot be ignored; we will not allow ourselves to be ignored."

Also, the students met with the acting rector, who told them to receive from the YSU general department the reply to their letter addressed to him days earlier.

By the way, these students got absences for not attending classes.

The aforesaid students boycotted classes from November 6 to 20, expressing their disagreement with the new bill's proposal to make subjects "Armenian Language", "Armenian Literature" and "Armenian History" optional in non-specialized faculties of Armenia’s universities.

Their protest was joined by lecturers from the YSU chairs of Armenian Language and History who had announced a one-day symbolic strike in support of the students. The lecturers then met with Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Arayik Harutyunyan and expressed their grievances.

Students were angered, according to them, with the minister’s disrespectful demeanor toward the lecturers at the meeting.

The aforesaid controversial bill is currently being debated on as a working draft.