“It’s not that we expect to have the perfect textbook right away,” says Armenian Minister of Education

The publication process for textbooks for the 2nd, 5th, and 7th grades has not failed. This was stated today by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia, Zhanna Andreasyan, during a Q&A session with the government.

She urged to thoroughly study the matter before commenting on it. “The first batch entered schools on the first working day following September 1. Additional books are being distributed in these days, and by the end of the month, all will be in schools,” she said.

“As a result of the new tender for textbook printing, we have achieved a 40 percent savings on resources, which raises questions about how the state has acquired these textbooks over the years, and how many millions the state has spent on this,” the minister stated.

Andreasyan mentioned that she personally visited all printing houses, and representatives from the printers told her that they had not even approached these tenders for years because they knew it was pointless and futile.

Regarding the content, Zhanna Andreasyan advised to familiarize oneself with them. “It’s not that we expect to have the perfect textbook right away, it’s a long journey, after all, because for years no new books have been written in our country,” the minister noted. She added that the first attempts have already laid the groundwork for quality textbooks to be introduced in schools in the future, even if that requires going through another refinement phase.

It should be mentioned that this year, on September 1, 2nd, 5th, and 7th-grade students started the academic year without textbooks. The publishing companies that won the contract for printing new textbooks were unable to print them and deliver them to schools.