Yes, improving the quality of television shows is a problem for us. This is what Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan declared live on Facebook today as he responded to a question from a Facebook user.

“This is a very important issue, and to solve this issue, we have launched a project that is aimed at connecting the youth to culture. If I’m not mistaken, the Minister of Education and Science is preparing to present this project. This morning, the minister sent me the initial version of the project called “Icult” through which all schoolchildren of Armenia will be able to visit theaters, concert halls and museums once a year through funds from the state budget. Now schoolchildren have the opportunity to order tickets online at dasaran.am. This also serves as an important way of linking the youth to culture,” he stated.

Pashinyan stressed that the role of culture remains unclear. “Throughout the history of the Third Republic of Armenia, there is one question that remains unanswered: Why does the State need culture? My answer is that culture is part of education and vice versa.”

The Prime Minister informed that the government will be taking advantage of the wide dissemination of soap operas and educate the public by improving the quality of those soap operas. “Recently, the government held a discussion on soap operas. Generally, criticizing soap operas is accepted, but since they are popular in Armenia, I believe we can use them as a link to convey a message to citizens by improving the quality of those soap operas,” he said.

Pashinyan stressed the fact that educational programs have started becoming more and more popular. “We constantly talk about encouraging people to work and try to give examples of how a person can become successful by working. We can also do this through soap operas. We also need to take into consideration the fact that each of us predetermines the quality of TV shows, and I am happy to state that several new TV shows are rather popular,” Pashinyan said.