‘In our country, there is one state language, and that is Armenian’ – Andreasian on Russian schools

The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Zhanna Andreasian, during a press conference dedicated to the 100 days of her tenure, addressed the remark made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the necessity of operating Russian schools in Armenia. She stated that it is mandatory for residents of the Republic of Armenia to receive education in literary Armenian, as required by law. “We are conducting discussions with the Russian side within the framework of legislation,” she emphasized.

“In our country, there is one state language, and that is Armenian. Regarding the joint program with the Russian side, which should be at the primary education level in certain institutional formats, a session of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission took place in December, where it was clearly noted that we need to discuss the concept of that program. For this purpose, a working group should be formed. The working group has been formed, and we have clear concepts of what kind of joint project we might be talking about,” said Andreasian.

She pointed out that they already have a good example in the form of the Armenian-Chinese school, where China has made significant investments in infrastructure, built a new school building, equipped it with furniture, and is also collaborating on content. “At this school, there is an opportunity to study the Chinese language, as well as the culture and history of China. Experts are being sent by China, and additional financial support is provided. This is what we already have and we have presented it to the Russian side,” said Andreasian.

She noted that the second possibility discussed with the Russian side is the significant influx of citizens from the Russian Federation in the last year. “We have stated that we are ready to discuss if there is a need to organize the education of those citizens. There is also a need for them to have the opportunity to learn with a Russian education, which we can discuss as well. Discussions are currently ongoing. It is mandatory for our citizens that education be in literary Armenian, as required by law. We are conducting these discussions within the framework of legislation. In the case of Russian citizens, the education may be in another language,” Andreasian added.