‘There are no children in the army, there are soldiers’ says Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that our schools must have sufficient psychological preparation for various changes that are unpredictable, as well as standards of physical preparedness. He made this remark during a government meeting today.

“From time to time, we should conduct psychological tests in schools to understand the psychological preparedness of our students and what we need to do. There should also be objective criteria for physical readiness, such as how many pull-ups a student can do. We need to collaborate with the Ministry of Health, because, for instance, issues related to weight norms must be kept under the school's scrutiny. This relates to psychological well-being. Mindless eating for a person in the 21st century is a method to overcome psychological issues. Child obesity is included in the international agenda as a serious problem,” he said.

The government leader emphasized the need to clearly delineate the boundary of a child, where childhood ends and adulthood begins. “According to our legislation, a person who has reached the age of 18 is considered an adult, but at the socio-psychological level, we do not address this issue.”

“For example, you know that in Armenia, compulsory military service begins at the age of 18, but it has long bothered me that almost universally people refer to soldiers in the army as children. We assign this person the function of ensuring the country's security, yet we call them a child. Let’s get oriented: if they are a child, then they should not be conscripted into the army. We must acknowledge one thing: there are no children in the army, there are soldiers. This is a chain of many events that has brought us to these discussions. Soon, we will also discuss this issue at the Ministry of Defense,” he added.

Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Androsyan also added that with the implementation of new standards in general education, criteria for both physical fitness and psychological services will also be present in schools. “For example, the standards for physical education clarify what should be done at what age. Starting tomorrow, the psychological services will also become mandatory in all schools. Beyond military service, we also have adults who have graduated from the 12th grade, who are mature individuals and can manifest all functions equally. We need to change our approaches and attitudes towards adolescent children. That’s why we are trying to make education horizontal, whereas in a vertical education system, the teacher instructs and the child listens, but both sides should listen to each other,” Androsyan said.