I Can't Explain to My Daughter Why She Is Going Through This Stress: Garegin Miskaryan to the Minister

Garegin Miskaryan, a member of the Citizens' Decision Social Democratic Party, made a post on his Facebook page addressing Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arayik Harutyunyan. He noted, in particular:

“Mr. Harutyunyan, it is evident that today's high school, where students are supposed to prepare for university entrance exams according to streams, is not fulfilling its assigned tasks for various reasons. Students, willingly or unwillingly, are forced to attend private tutors. However, the issue is not just the lack of knowledge provided by schools, but rather the fact that sometimes one, and more often two or more subjects are being taught by tutors. Thus, a graduating student does not physically have time to complete the homework assigned by private tutors alongside the school classes. Why is there no time? Because students are required to attend school, otherwise, if they miss 120 hours, the burden of the exams increases on them. Of course, this is a fair approach, but let’s consider it from the perspective of the graduating student.

What does that 12th-grade student preparing for university spend their time on at school? They are 'studying' subjects that they are already being taught by tutors. They are 'studying' for the University Entrance Exam, Physical Education, and 'revisiting' subjects they have already gone over in school (for example, biology in a humanitarian-focused school), and similar subjects. As a result, especially on days when they are attending private tutoring, because of the time wasted at school, these children either have to do everything half-heartedly or they must sleep only 4-5 hours a day to be effective.

In the past, school principals and teachers 'turned a blind eye' to absences, and this was how the issue was resolved. Now, the Ministry has tightened regulations on absences, and those responsible are justifiably avoiding 'closing' the absences of students. Consequently, without providing any significant benefit, the school (referring to graduating classes) only hinders future applicants, both in terms of knowledge and moral-psychological state.

I cannot explain to my daughter why she is going through this stress.

What do I propose? I suggest that for graduating students, with the consent of the parents and upon request, the number of 'permissible' absences should be increased without requiring mandatory exams in additional subjects. I want to emphasize: only for graduating students.

Respectfully, Garegin Miskaryan, Parent of a Graduating Student