Who Will Receive Deferral: National Assembly Approves Draft Law

The Armenian Parliament has fully approved the draft amendments to the "Military Service and Status of Servicemen" law and related laws during its second reading today.

With this, the government proposes to grant deferral rights to applicants in the fields of natural sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The list of such specialists will be determined by the government through subordinate legal acts after the law comes into force, based on the current priorities and needs.

Moreover, the right to deferral will be granted to students not only at the bachelor’s level but also at the master’s and doctoral levels.

Another change increases the conscription age by one year, setting it at 18-28 years instead of the current 18-27. As Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport Vahram DUMANYAN noted during the parliamentary discussion of the draft, this change was necessary because often those who received deferrals based on their academic achievements were drafted into the army before completing their doctoral studies by the age of 27.

"The duration of general education has become 12 years, while the age of 27 was established when general education lasted only 10 years. This leads to artificial solutions, as students in their second year of graduate studies try in every way to finish and defend their thesis to be considered as having completed that cycle," said Dumanyan.

The draft amendments to the "Military Service and Status of Servicemen" law were adopted by the Armenian government in July of this year and sent for parliamentary discussion. The package of draft laws was approved by the parliament in the first reading last week.