Armavir School Principal Responds to Controversial Video

The book donation ceremony organized by the pedagogical staff of Armavir Region's School No. 8 has been the subject of online discussion since yesterday. The teachers of this school entered the principal's office in an orderly fashion to present a book to the principal, reciting works from Tumanyan and Sevak.

We asked the principal of School No. 8, Anna Khachatryan, whether it is a tradition in their school to congratulate her in this manner or to give her gifts. She responded, "There is no such tradition as such. I also recited for them yesterday. This was a methodological assembly for the Armenian language session, it later became a session where they presented their program related to Mother Language Day. This was the beginning, an accord; they recited and donated books, and I recited too. We accepted the list of events provided. Yesterday, books were given to each other all day long at the school."

Ms. Khachatryan considers the enthusiastic recitation by the teachers as a beautiful surprise. "Well, it happened like this; they gifted me a book by Sevak, and Sevak recited spontaneously. What’s wrong with that? I don’t understand, is there something wrong?" When asked about the hidden camera that recorded this event, she replied, "Our girls record what they do; probably everyone does this these days. Then, one of them made a video and said, ‘It’s so beautiful.’ If I thought such a thing existed, would I have allowed it? I wouldn’t have allowed it… I just don’t know; we said to start with the Mother Language, as we were organizing an event with the follow-up kids.”

The internet has characterized the educators' book donation ceremony as a kind of flattery towards the principal. When we asked Ms. Khachatryan if she agrees with this characterization, she replied, "No, no, my teachers, our teachers are all dedicated. Did I have the right to donate to them? Did they have the right to dedicate a poem to me? A person can recite on the street or anywhere; I don’t know what’s wrong with that. They have recited in a similar way in the teachers’ lounge; all of us together. I also recited Tumanyan’s ‘The Tale of Tmkaberd,’ I love that work, it is immortal…"

In response to criticism about what kind of generation such educators will raise, Ms. Khachatryan countered, "Such teachers have educated a generation that has shown patriotism, participated in the last wars, and fallen. I think that I am doing a God-pleasing work together with my teachers. They work tirelessly, they toil, they educate."

We also asked Ms. Khachatryan why she removed the so-called beautiful surprise dedicated to her from the school’s Facebook page, wondering if they were embarrassed by the criticism. She replied, "I thought that everyone understands in their own way; we were misunderstood. Well, the opinion is there; can we all be of the same opinion?" In response to our question as to whether she had received any comments from the regional administration regarding the well-known video, she stated, "Not yet." When asked how she accepted the public criticism, she responded, "It’s normal, healthy criticism. I accepted that such things should not be publicized, and everyone interprets it in their own way. Did you see flattery there? I did not see it. A few months ago, our school’s football team secured first place in the republic; we made a video and posted it. Why didn’t we get praised for something good? After all, public opinion is very important, and the positive should also be mentioned, right?"