Funding Allocated for Teachers and Students' Transportation Expense Reimbursement

According to the order of the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, Arayik Harutyunyan, a new procedure for reimbursing transportation services for teachers and school-aged children from public schools will come into effect on January 1, 2020. According to the order, reimbursements will be provided to those teachers and students in rural schools of Armenia who commute from one locality to another for work or study.

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports reports that as a result, 3.5 times more funds will be allocated in the draft state budget for 2020 for the reimbursement of transportation services for teachers and learners of public schools, with a total of 276 million AMD allocated for the coming year, up from 79 million AMD in 2019, covering all regions (previously, only 7 regions were covered).

Reimbursement is provided to those teachers who work in a public school located in a different locality from their actual residence (at a distance of more than 5 km) with a position of 0.5 or more, and are not included in programs such as “Reimbursement for Teachers of Public Schools in Remote, Borderline, Mountainous, and High Mountainous Areas of the Republic of Armenia” funded by the state budget of Armenia. It also applies to school-aged children who attend a public school in another locality due to the absence of a public school in their actual place of residence (community, locality) or the absence of a program at that level in the respective school.

The maximum reimbursement amount for the year will be based on the average rates submitted through competitions of inter-regional and inter-community route networks published by the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia. In the absence of these rates, a standard of 200 AMD will be used (calculated for two directions for each present day).

In the absence of a designated name for the locality, the rate set for the nearest locality will be applied.

Regarding the deadlines, the educational institution submits information about the reimbursed individuals—along with justifications and calculations (by September 20 for the first semester and by January 20 for the second semester)—to the authorized body of the school's management: the regional administrations or the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (for schools under the ministry's jurisdiction). After that, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports recommends that the regional administrations sign contracts with institutions operating under their authority for monthly funding.