YEREVAN. – Only 342 of Armenia’s 1,400 schools made use of the permission to extend the winter break for two more weeks, Education and Science Ministry’s Public Education Department Chief Narine Hovhannisyan stated, during a press conference on Thursday, adding that the winter break for schools without heating is extended until January 23, and on the account of the spring break.    

She also informed that the heating problem and the absence of boiler rooms in schools were the reason for the Minister’s decision to postpone the classes.

Hovhannisyan also noted that the classes in some schools resumed, not upon the Ministry’s instruction, but rather by the wishes of the principals, teachers, and parents, since they were motivated by the warm weather.  

“The temperature in the classrooms starts from 17°C, which is normal. But at present, the school attendance is at fifty percent,” Narine Hovhannisyan confirmed.