Which Grades Will Not Have New Textbooks by the End of the School Year and Why: The Ministry of Education's Response

On September 18, hetq.am submitted a written inquiry to Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan regarding the situation surrounding new textbooks and the state standards for general education. Below is an excerpt from the question and answer session; the full text can be accessed on the original source website.

Education Expert: "It is not mentioned that certain textbooks will not be available until May"
In early September, parents of students in the 2nd, 5th, and 7th grades were informed about the delay of textbooks. What printing schedule was chosen, and why was it violated?

Due to the implementation of the new state standards for general education, on November 28, 2022, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia announced grant competitions for the creation of new quality textbooks in 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 10th grades, covering a total of 65 titles. It should be noted that the deadline for the competitions was extended several times at the suggestion of the textbook development groups, which resulted in the applications being opened only on June 1, 2023. This was immediately followed by the examination and printing process of the textbooks. Notably, in cases where more than one textbook was created for the respective subject of a given grade, these were posted on relevant platforms, allowing teachers to study and choose one of the textbooks. This also required additional time.

Which grades will not have new textbooks by the end of the school year and why?
As a result of opening applications on June 1, 2023, it became clear that 49 applications had been submitted by participants for a total of 49 textbooks, of which 2—"French 5" and "French 7"—were not submitted for examination due to failing to meet the competition requirements. No applications were submitted for textbooks in the subjects of "Russian Language 5," "Physical Education 7," "German 7," "Digital Literacy and Computer Science 7," "Russian Language 7," and "Art 7." The textbooks presented that passed the established passing threshold during examinations held in June-July were guaranteed usage by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports on August 3, 2023, in the decree No. 1342-A/2 regarding guaranteed textbooks for grades 2, 5, and 7 for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Meanwhile, we inform you that general education schools have already received the overwhelming majority of new textbooks; the printing of the remaining textbooks is ongoing and is expected to be distributed to educational institutions across the republic by the end of September.

In anticipation of the next academic year, on September 6, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports announced new grant competitions for the creation of textbooks for grades 3, 6, and 8 due to the new state standards for general education, as well as for the absent textbooks of grades 2, 5, 7, and 10.

For subjects where no new textbooks were created—due to a lack of applications or failure to meet standards—the educational process should be organized based on the educational materials developed by the National Center for Educational Technologies (NCET) that were tested in schools in Tavush Province, in conjunction with previously used textbooks.

You've linked the changes in textbooks for the specified grades (2nd, 5th, 7th) with the implementation of the new standards. However, why did this process start specifically with these grades? Please provide details on the goals set behind this change.
The implementation of the new state standards for general education is conducted according to a specific roadmap that was applied during the trial implementation of the standards in Tavush Province. It implies the introduction of the standards starting from grades 2, 5, 7, and 10. In the following academic year, the standards are planned to be introduced in the next grades, namely, 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 11th, and finally, in the last year, in 1st, 4th, 9th, and 12th grades, thus completing the educational cycle.

However, due to the absence of about 12 textbooks in the 10th grade, a modification was made to the roadmap for implementing the standards. The state standard for general education will be introduced in the 10th grade in the 2024-2025 academic year.

How many applications did the ministry receive for the preparation of textbooks? What requirements were set in the competitions, and how many applications were approved? Were there instances where no applications were submitted, and the competition had to be postponed? If so, which grades were affected?
A total of 49 applications were submitted for the announced grant competitions for 65 textbooks.

What budget was allocated for the printing of textbooks for the aforementioned three grades (2nd, 5th, 7th)? Was this sufficient? Have you received complaints from publishers?
It is also noted that the printing process for textbooks for the 5th and 7th grades is managed by the Textbook and Information Communication Technology Foundation, while the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports only oversees the printing of 2nd-grade textbooks. For this purpose, 397,425,300 AMD has been allocated from the Republic of Armenia's state budget in 2023.