Strike and Resignation Demands in Armavir: College Director Sues Those Demanding His Resignation

The academic staff of the Armavir Regional State College has demanded the resignation of director Angin Arshakyan, accusing him of managing the college for personal gain. They halted their strike on the condition that they would resume it when the director enters the college building. Lecturer Taguhi Hovakimyan told NEWS.am that disagreements with Arshakyan began months ago when he removed photos of participants of the 44-day war from one of the classrooms.

“One day, I entered the room and saw that the pictures were gone. I asked where they were, and he replied, ‘This is not a cemetery; I will do what I want. The children are afraid to enter the classroom.’ When this was discussed widely, Arshakyan announced that he would create a glory room where the boys’ photos would be hung, even though there is a classroom shortage at the college. Later, the issues worsened. He required teachers to submit packages, and then it turned out that many of these packages did not exist. In my opinion, he was going to say later, ‘Your packages do not exist, thus you cannot demand a time requirement,’ and in this way, he would be able to bring his own people into the college.

Angin Arshakyan even placed his daughter in our college, although she had no connection to economics but received hours in economics. He then brought in a relative as the head of the HR department and appointed her as a part-time accountant. He embezzled all the union funds, and now he says it was with our consent, but we were not even aware of it.

Arshakyan decided to raise the tuition fees when we were barely able to collect 120,000 drams, let alone gather 190,000,” Hovakimyan explained.

The college director cut down trees in the garden, and when fined for it, he hastily organized a tree planting to reduce the penalty amount. The situation at the Armavir Regional College worsened when Angin Arshakyan fired physical education specialist Aram Arzumanyan and nurse Zepur Sahakyan. According to Taguhi Hovakimyan, Arshakyan dismissed colleagues without even being present at the college.

Representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports visited the college at the end of last week. Hovakimyan added that they also had a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports, Zhanna Andreasyan, to express their grievances.

In a conversation with NEWS.am, Armavir Regional State College Director Angin Arshakyan stated that he filed a lawsuit against those demanding his resignation at the Armavir General Jurisdiction Court for damages caused to his honor and dignity. He noted that a directed campaign has been organized against him by the college's deputy directors Karine Harutyunyan and Susanna Margaryan.

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