Standards Are Driven from Abroad and the Current Authorities Are Powerless Against It: Serj Srapionyan

This once again proves that I was right from the very beginning, and this is a treasonous program that they are implementing under the guise of creating a strong national state. This was stated by Serj Srapionyan, a lecturer at Yerevan State University’s Faculty of Philology and a literary critic, in an interview with NEWS.am, referring to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement at the Government meeting regarding substantive standards, which he claimed are necessary for having a strong state.

"The standards are not a coincidence; they are a well-thought-out treasonous program that is driven from abroad, and the current authorities are powerless against this dictation," said the literary critic.

When asked by the media which countries he was referring to by stating 'from abroad', Srapionyan responded: "I don’t know specific countries; the structures that are called 'Soros structures' or 'Masonic' are stateless structures that can be found in any country."

It should be noted that when the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports published the subject standards for general education subjects, literary critics expressed dissatisfaction that Armenian classical figures such as Grigor Narekatsi, Movses Khorenatsi, and Mesrop Mashtots were omitted from the 'Literature' subject. Days after the uproar, the ministry clarified that medieval Armenian literature would be included in the curriculum. Specifically, starting from the 5th grade, students will study the works of historians Movses Khorenatsi, Agathangelos, Pavstos Buzand, Yeghishe, and Ghazar Parpetsi, as well as fables from medieval authors like Grigor Narekatsi, Nerses Shnorhali, Nahapet Kuchak, and Sayat Nova.

“There’s a popular saying: ‘lolo-lolo, what lolo to the Kurdish boy,’ you shouldn’t place 'lolo' in huge educational structures, especially with the small mentality of a person occupying a ministerial position as you mentioned. That legal decision will enter schools, and we will see that this 'lolo' remains the same. I am not convinced that Armenian classical authors will be excluded. They will incorporate the works of classical authors that are not their decisive works; it’s not accidental that teachers and students have been given so many absurd allowances. An order will be issued, they will secretly bypass those great figures and present them to the so-called LGBT structures; you will see where the books have been published and who the editors were; everything will become clear,” he said.

Srapionyan emphasizes that “the names of Armenian classical authors were absent in the project from the very start; they were afraid of the uproar and inserted them later.”

“The mere fact that they are removing chronology from History and Armenian Literature already shows how much of a strong blow they are delivering to the influence of those subjects,” he added.

It should be added that according to the clarification from the Ministry of Education, the group continues to work and refine the program, discussing all public proposals and observations. The complete list of literature will be presented after the revisions through public discussions.