Classes Will Be Held Daily In-Person Regardless of Student Numbers: Ministry of Education

According to an agreement reached between the Ministries of Education, Science, Culture, Sports, and Health, classes may be conducted in-person on a daily basis, regardless of the number of students in the class, the Ministry of Education has reported.

During the August meeting of general education institutions operating under the Yerevan Municipality, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasian announced that the relevant legal regulation, which will remove the limitation on the number of students in classrooms, will be officially published in the near future.

Andreasian noted that under the current regulations set by Order 24-N of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Armenia, classes can also be held every day with the permission of the Ministry of Education and Science. The Deputy Minister urged the participating directors to formally apply to the Yerevan Municipality as per the established procedure, from where the applications will be grouped and submitted to the ministry to receive daily permission for organizing classes, irrespective of the number of students in the classrooms.

According to Andreasian, permission can only be denied in cases where there is a high number of infections in the school, and there is a risk of the outbreak of the infection according to health regulations.

Considering the risks posed by the pandemic, and to avoid crowding, the Deputy Minister suggested organizing the ceremonial entrance of first-graders to school one day earlier, conducting the festive event outdoors. She also urged limiting the number of people accompanying first-graders to school.

Andreasian reported that extracurricular groups, canteens, and extended-day services will also operate in schools. The Deputy Minister also reminded that according to last year's approved regulations on extended-day services, students from other schools can benefit from extended-day activities at neighboring or preferred schools by signing an agreement, the format of which has been approved by the Ministry of Education.

For the operation of school canteens and buffets, on-site food preparation and sales are permitted.

“We are currently discussing the issue of granting permission for organizing food for elementary school students, which is very important for regional schools, as students in these grades also receive hot meals in the regions,” emphasized Zhanna Andreasian, adding that discussions are also underway with the World Food Program of the United Nations about introducing the school food program for the younger grades in Yerevan.

Presenting the university admission statistics for applicants from the capital, the Deputy Minister indicated that the results fall within the range of national average indicators. Among the 4,403 applicants from Yerevan, 3,151 or 71.6% were admitted to universities, with 13.7% being admitted free of charge. Applicants from the capital preferred Yerevan State University, which is a general trend throughout the republic; followed by the Armenian State University of Economics, the National Polytechnical University of Armenia, and the Medical University named after M. Heratsi, among others.