I must be present at your judgment. Former school principal to Ashotyan

Former principal of Koghb School, Ruzan Yeghikyan, addresses the dismissed Minister of Education Armen Ashotyan in an open letter, stating that justice has been restored, as she was unjustly dismissed from her job in the past. This was reported by Haykakan Zhamanak.

We present the full letter below.

Open letter to Armen Ashotyan

...I must be present at your judgment /S. Kaputikyan/

Years have passed, yet the burning insult and lingering pain embedded in my soul do not leave me. And the cruel culprit of all this is you, the former “concerned” Minister of Education, thus I want to initiate an unfortunate conversation with you.

Perhaps now is the appropriate time for you to understand what the insulting and dignity-violating phenomenon of robbery is. My letters addressed to you in issues 266 and 273 of “Ch.i” speak of my conviction that the educational system, at least in our paralyzed conditions of today, is far from being unjust, but, heaven forbid, not only is it far from that, but stands on the barricades of injustice and arbitrarily manages the fate of someone’s employment based on whims like, “I am the master, who will stand before me?”

Nothing is as commendable and worthy as the struggle established for justice and truth. Unfortunately, during the era of your treasonous rule with your teammates, the advocates of this fight were subject to persecution under various pretexts. In the 1990s, I fought in the “Freedom Square” of Noyemberyan for today’s independence, and because some Soviet “predators” were still on the scene (although the people drove them from the square with a rain of tomatoes and eggs, they did not drive them from their chairs), naturally, they would seek revenge against people like me.

I was dismissed without reason from the position of the principal of Koghb No. 2 School (where I had worked for 11 years). It wasn’t important, as I was teaching Armenian language and literature in my native school; the work of a teacher has a wonderful backbone and it won’t collapse before any gale. That is the assessment of the students.

It was painful to see my school, which enjoyed high authority in the region, suffocated in the claws of local bureaucrats and officials, a school where the slogan “I am the commander, who will stand before me?” was in operation.

I appealed to you, believing in your truth. A naive struggle. I didn’t imagine that it would be difficult to fight against your “voracious” group which chants democracy and justice, yet I believed in my unwavering will and the awakening of the conscience of the disgraced elite.

By the collaboration of the indifferent attitude of the former governor of Tavush, Armen Ghulyan, and your group, the inspective personnel of the Ministry of Education, led by inspector Leila Sargsyan, organized a pedagogical show in the school aiming to blackmail the “rebellious” part of the collective.

25 experienced educators at the school validated their true demands with signatures, addressing Governor Ghulyan, but it remained a voice without an echo, while about 100 justice-seeking Koghb residents appealed to the Ministry of Education. Their demand was one: not to disrupt the normal course of the school’s educational activities. On the order of the “all-powerful” governor, the police threatened the “disobedient” Koghb residents with the potential firing of their relatives.

The son of the former school principal, K. Nazaryan, who was far from being an educator (he had worked for a few years as a computer science teacher in the border school of Berdavan to avoid military service), was a principal for about a year and also the director of the customs warehouse of Bagratashen LLC.

As I entered the 9th grade with lesson plans in hand to teach literature, the demand of the puppet-principal echoed: “Leave the class and go.” I cannot help but recall the noble words of Belinsky that define the malicious actions of a man: “There is nothing more pleasing for lowly people than to take revenge on their own insignificance.” My struggle against the injustice I faced, which lasted two years, spanned my 45-year long journey as an educator.

Thank God, the Court of Appeals reinstated me at my job. The poisoned director, drunk on vendetta, issued a second illegal order.

My 63rd birthday came, and I felt it was time to retire. “Concerned” republican Armen Ashotyan, why did you forget that the Armenian language, with its brave valor, fought against foreign multi-faceted conquerors, and today it still battles against all those who dare to raise a weapon against the school, the fortress of our spiritual existence?

Many of my students, who are artists, doctors, and teachers, faithful workers of the land and compassionate Koghb residents, fought against you and people like you in Republic Square.

Ruzan Yeghikyan
Outstanding Educator of the People
Teacher-Methodologist