YEREVAN. – I will instruct that the absences for November not be counted. Yerevan State University (YSU) Acting Rector Gegham Gevorgyan said this today during his meeting with the protesting YSU students.

"But it does not apply to October, September, December," he added.

The moderator of the meeting mentioned that this refers to the participants in the protests, as there were students who stayed at home those days and did not attend either the classes or the protests.

Asked by students whether the students who boycotted classed could be dropped out of YSU, Gevorgyan said: "None of you will suffer, at least this semester, because of boycotting the classes."

These students had held a protest last week outside Gevorgyan's office demanding a meeting with them. Students, after receiving a positive response from the rector, yesterday stopped the protest and the boycotting of classes they had resumed the day before.

Students from the YSU Faculty of Armenian Philology had boycotted classes also 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 - and no longer mandatory - 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.