Ministry of Education and Science Defeated in Court Over History Textbook Case: Lawyer

Lawyer Ara Zohrabyan writes: “As you may recall, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as the minister) had guaranteed two history textbooks for the 7th grade of the Armenian people. One was the history textbook titled 'Armenian History' authored by Ashot Ghukasyan and A. Teryan (hereinafter referred to as the Ghukasyan Textbook), while the other was the 'Armenian History' textbook authored by S. Hovhannisyan within the scandalous 'Participatory School' inter-disciplinary project (hereinafter referred to as the Scandalous Textbook).

Upon seeing the harsh negative reactions from the public and specialized circles regarding the scandalous textbook, and realizing that schools and teachers would not use the scandalous textbook, the minister resorted to a cunning and illegal move. Lacking the authority to do so, he submitted the already approved Ghukasyan textbook for a double examination and issued an order to remove it from circulation, leaving teachers and schools with only one option: the Scandalous Textbook.

Together with the Armenian Knight School led by Karin Tonoyan, and with lawyers Simon Babayan and Mane Karapetyan, we filed a lawsuit in the administrative court of the Republic of Armenia. The Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia, presided over by Judge Lilit Sadoyan, examined the case in question and today, on October 15, 2024, our lawsuit has been granted.

The court decided to recognize the absence of a legal relationship arising from the minister’s order to exclude the Ghukasyan textbook from circulation. From the moment the court's ruling comes into legal effect, schools and teachers will have an alternative option for the 7th-grade Armenian history textbook.

I also inform you that another case disputing the order of the minister guaranteeing the Scandalous Textbook is being reviewed by another judge in the Administrative Court.