7-Year-Old Child Entering School for the First Time Will Be in Second Grade, Says Deputy Minister of Education

The Permanent Commission on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs of the National Assembly has initiated parliamentary hearings on the topic of "Legislative Reforms to Raise the Age Threshold for Marriage in the Context of Protecting Fundamental Human Rights," during which Araksia Svajyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, presented a report.

The Deputy Minister emphasized the importance of discussing this issue, noting that early marriages primarily manifest in children being left out of compulsory education, which is highly concerning, according to Svajyan. She stated that the initiative is crucial in preventing issues arising from early marriages.

Svajyan reported that as of the 2023-2024 academic year, there are 1,319 female students of Yezidi ethnicity studying in public educational institutions. In 2023, 171 students left the educational system.

“The trend of children being left out of education is evident during high school years. Specifically, there is a 52.7% decrease in the number of students in the 10th grade compared to previous years, 69.5% in the 11th grade, and 88.2% in the 12th grade. We understand how alarming these figures are,” stated Svajyan while also addressing the situation in higher educational institutions.

According to the Deputy Minister, there has been an increase in the number of students from national minorities, particularly Yezidi students in universities over the past three years. “In the 2020/21 academic year, we had 34 Yezidi students at the bachelor's level, of whom 9 were female. Only 6 Yezidi students continued their education in the master’s program, all of them boys. In the 2021/22 academic year, the number of students slightly increased, with 40 in the bachelor’s program (13 girls), while only 5 students continued in the master’s program. In the 2022/23 academic year, we had 55 bachelor’s students, 17 of whom were girls. One boy continued in the master’s program,” Svajyan noted.

Svajyan also highlighted the measures the Ministry of Education and Science is taking to try to address the situation. In this context, the Deputy Minister referred to the mandatory group activities on healthy lifestyle education within the framework of the implementation of the state new standards for general education. “Within this group, children conduct research on various topics, and this is a more interactive learning process for children, allowing them to easily develop all the skills necessary for success in life from a minimum understanding perspective,” Svajyan said.

She remarked that in preventing early marriages, aside from promoting a healthy lifestyle, a significant impact will also come from the processes aimed at identifying children who have dropped out of mandatory education. Svajyan informed that the procedure for detecting and directing children who have dropped out of mandatory education was updated at the end of the previous year and has been in place since 2021. “The procedures have been clearly outlined, and accordingly, each body and agency knows its responsibilities. The information system is fully automated, which will allow for both the identification of children who have dropped out of mandatory education as well as those at risk of doing so. Children who are absent for 6 consecutive working days are considered at risk, and if there is no valid reason for the absence, additional work should be done to bring the children back to school. In our country, 12 years of education is mandatory; therefore, every parent is obliged to realize their child's right to education. When it comes to changing the age threshold, I believe we need to develop more capacities aimed at the legal awareness of students,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

In response to questions from members of the National Assembly, Svajyan stated that according to the current legal regulations, it has been established at what age a child should attend school and that they will be in the second grade if they enter school at 7 years old. “A child entering school for the first time at 7 years old will be in the second grade. Individual work will have to be done with them to grasp the first-grade curriculum, which complicates the child's situation. We believe this will be a restraining mechanism and that parents will send their children to school starting at 6 years old, as stipulated in the Law on General Education,” said the Deputy Minister.

It should be noted that representatives from competent bodies, national minorities, including the Yezidi community, attended the parliamentary hearings. MP Rustam Bakoyan stated that legislative reforms aimed at raising the marriage age threshold are planned for 2024. “As a representative of the Yezidi community in parliament, I receive numerous alerts, especially concerning early marriages in the Yezidi community, but it should be noted that the problem is widespread. I emphasize the importance of conveying to children from an early age the idea that early marriages can have negative consequences for their future lives and destinies. Marriages among minors lead to various issues from health, education, and social perspectives,” Bakoyan said.