Total Bonuses Paid in the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Reach $1.318 Million

The annual bonuses paid by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, Arayik Harutyunyan, amount to approximately 456,208,974 AMD or more than $955,000 (around $80,000 monthly). The ministry's activities have been characterized by numerous anti-national, anti-cultural, anti-state, and destructive 'innovations' that have sparked serious unrest among the informed public. Yerkir.am reported on this issue.

The site sent a written inquiry to Minister Arayik Harutyunyan asking for information on the total amount of bonuses paid to the ministry's employees from May 9, 2018, to December 31, 2019, including before its reorganization. According to the written response received (attached), from May 9, 2018, to December 31, 2018, the combined salary fund of the RA ministries of Education, Culture, Sports, and Youth comprised 1,500,590,900 AMD, of which bonuses amounted to 49,981,380 AMD (under 'Bonuses, cash incentives, and special payments'), and 122,905,900 AMD (under 'Remuneration for civilian, judicial, and other state servants'). Thus, for around eight months in 2018, employees of the three predecessor ministries of the MESCS received a total of 172,887,280 AMD or more than $360,000.

In 2019, the total salary fund of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports reached 1,754,225,600 AMD. Of this, bonuses amounted to 284,902,700 AMD (‘Bonuses, cash incentives, and special payments’), 95,819,100 AMD (‘Remuneration for civilian, judicial, and other state servants’), and 75,487,174 AMD (‘Employees' salaries and allowances’). Hence, during the 12 months of 2019, employees of the newly established MESCS collectively received 456,208,974 AMD or more than $955,000, which amounts to about $80,000 monthly.

Therefore, the total bonuses paid in the MESCS amount to 629,096,254 AMD or roughly $1.318 million over the 20 months.

According to the decision by the Prime Minister of Armenia dated June 11, 2018, the maximum number of employees in the MESCS is not particularly high—357. Even in the case of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was significantly generous with bonuses, the amount reached 325,192,100 AMD in 2019 against the 456,208,974 AMD paid by the MESCS in the same year. Additionally, the number of employees in the MFA is 768, which is more than double that of the MESCS (357).

Considering the significant difference in employee numbers, the total amount of bonuses given to MFA employees over 20 months (424,882,253 AMD) does not exceed the total amount of bonuses paid by the MESCS for 12 months (456,208,974 AMD).

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which has nearly as many employees as the MFA (700 employees), paid a total of 486,571,800 AMD to its personnel over 20 months, slightly more than what the MESCS paid for 12 months to its 357 employees.

As we see, the MESCS is among the leaders in terms of annual bonuses and competes with the 'giants' of bonuses in this area, such as the Ministry of Finance (which paid a total of 1,223,510,236 AMD to around 473 employees during the same 20 months) and the Ministry of Justice (which paid 783,246,900 AMD to 300 employees over the same period).

Another interesting fact is that according to the site, the combined salary fund for the three ministries over the first eight months of 2018 was 1,500,590,900 AMD, which would amount to approximately 2,250,886,350 AMD for the whole year. In 2019, the MESCS’s salary fund was 1,754,225,600 AMD, having decreased by around 496,660,750 AMD. This should be taken into account as the salary fund was reduced specifically for the MESCS, as, in any case, that amount continued to be paid as salaries from the state budget to around 279 civil servants who were transferred to other government positions due to the merger and another 17 registered in the personnel reserve.

According to this, the fund was saved only in regard to the aforementioned 12 positions, which, let’s admit, is not a very large number.

According to the site, a total of 172,887,280 AMD was paid in bonuses to the three ministries for eight months in 2018, which would average to 259,330,920 AMD for a full year (172,887,280 : 8 x 12). After the merger of the ministries, the amount of bonuses for the MESCS increased by 196,878,054 AMD in 2019 (456,208,974 – 259,330,920), amounting to 456,208,974 AMD.

So, what does this indicate? Prime Minister Pashinyan, while throwing dust in the public's eyes, declared that there were unnecessary positions in the ministries, and by reducing the number of ministries and merging them, they were saving the budget and moving toward a more efficient management model. In fact, with a reduction of 308 employees due to the merger (as we mentioned, only 12 positions were cut, while 296 were transferred from the MESCS to other public jobs), the bonus fund of the MESCS increased by 196,878,054 AMD. It is absurd, but it is a fact.

In a broader context, the mergers, optimizations, or 'reforms' carried out by Pashinyan’s team have not lightened the burden on the state budget; on the contrary, it has increased it substantially (by almost 200 million AMD, minus the annual salary for 12 positions). The Pashinyan government can certainly argue that they are generously granting almost 200 million AMD more bonuses annually compared to previous administrations, claiming that the MESCS has boosted the development of Armenian culture, education, and sports with extraordinary programs. However, it must be noted that all those innovations, successes, or progress witnessed by the public are overall results of large-scale programs initiated during the tenure of previous ministers, which have been realized with inertial nature (there are numerous facts, which have repeatedly been pointed out by previous ministers).

In reality, the ministry’s activities under Arayik Harutyunyan, which resulted in an annual bonus of approximately 456,208,974 AMD or more than $955,000 (monthly $80,000), have only led to numerous anti-national, anti-cultural, anti-state, and destructive 'innovations' that have triggered serious unrest among the informed public.

In conclusion, the role of the National Academy of Sciences has diminished or been entirely removed, the mandatory condition of teaching Armenian studies in non-specialized faculties has been abolished, and the allocation of 2.7 million AMD in grants for anti-national and anti-cultural presentations ('Huzank u Zang'), the dangerous funding of a film about a criminal exhibiting shameful behavior in the sports world who has renounced Armenian citizenship and spitting on the Armenian flag, costing 20 million AMD, as well as the repeated failure of the program to provide textbooks to Armenian schools in Georgia (Javakhk)—these are just a few highlights of the 'achievements' by Arayik Harutyunyan’s ministry which earned it a 'distinguished' position among ministries in terms of bonus allocations.

Note: Contrary to Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Arayik Harutyunyan’s public statement that all employees of the ministry’s system receive quarterly bonuses, the employees of the Linguistic Committee of the MESCS applied to the Prime Minister on December 17, 2019, January 10, and February 6, 2020, complaining that they have not received any bonuses for the third or fourth quarters, nor the thirteenth paid bonus. They noted that since the establishment of the Language Committee (previously the Language Inspectorate) in 2003, such an occurrence had never happened. In these conditions of lavish bonuses in the MESCS, the ministry even refused to grant the committee employees their annual leave and suggested they take leave 'at their own expense,' justifying it by claiming that the funds barely suffice for salaries.

According to information from the Language Committee, the fund allocated for bonuses (around 4 million for just the third quarter) was withdrawn, but it did not reach the committee. It remains publicly unclear whether the bonuses for committee employees were granted or if their voices were 'silenced' in another way. Nevertheless, in response to Yerkir.am's inquiry, the MESCS has stated in writing (the response is attached) that from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, the bonus fund of the RA Language Committee created by several articles amounted to 33,822,900 AMD, of which 18,953,500 AMD was for 2019. The MESCS's Chief Secretary also provided information about the bonus fund allocated for the Language Committee for 2020, amounting to 19,573,100 AMD.