Video: We Have Started the Process of Tripling the Ridiculous Salaries of Teachers - Pashinyan

We are implementing extensive reforms in the education sector. Our program to build, reconstruct, or overhaul 300 schools and 55 kindergartens in Armenia by 2026 has commenced, as outlined in the campaign program of the Civil Contract party. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this during today’s meeting on September 1.

“As a result of this program, even children from remote areas will have the opportunity to attend high-quality kindergartens and schools, which should become a key factor in the revival of villages. In my observation, many villages in Armenia have emptied out partly because there were no opportunities or prospects for children of preschool age to receive proper education in those villages, leading parents to prefer leaving to create educational prospects for their children. The newly opened kindergartens and schools in villages will become the cornerstone for the revival of several of our villages,” he stated.

The Prime Minister paid special attention to the program of rural educational complexes: “We will implement similar programs for those villages where there are not enough children to have a separate school or kindergarten, and there is an opportunity to gather the children of several villages in one place. We will build new buildings, equip them with new furniture, construct new roads leading to these educational complexes, purchase new buses for transporting the children, and ensure their right to receive proper education. I want to emphasize that the newly opened or to be opened kindergarten, pre-school, and school places in rural and urban areas will not only provide our children the opportunity for proper education but will also open pathways for their mothers to receive education and engage in public and economic activities, which in turn will become a significant factor in the economic, political, and civilizational development of Armenia, helping many families overcome poverty through education and work,” he noted.

Pashinyan also addressed the issue of low salaries in kindergartens and schools: “We cannot tolerate the ridiculous salaries that are paid to our teachers and educators, and we have started the process of tripling these salaries with the understanding that this should be coupled with voluntary teacher certification. Moreover, this should be a continuous process, and certified teachers should have the opportunity to increase their salaries again every five years in the same way. This means that teachers who have voluntarily passed certification every five years can undergo it again and receive a salary increase, because inflation occurs over time. And teachers who do not undergo voluntary certification for several years will not have the opportunity to work as teachers. The same process should also include education staff in kindergartens,” he added.