We Have Condemned Poverty Because We Did Not Notice That There Is No School in Their Village: Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the 16th State Award Ceremony for Global Contributions in the Field of High Technology in Armenia. The event was also attended by President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, members of the executive body, and representatives from the high technology sector.

The Prime Minister awarded the State Award for Global Contributions in the Field of High Technology to Vincent Roche, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Analog Devices Inc. (ADI).

"In response to the question of how your country’s government has helped you, I have always received one answer: education. The government has provided us with education at all levels—general education, higher education, and postgraduate education. Perhaps the conversations we had with the awardees during the ceremony have influenced our current focus on education. Certainly, our experience, knowledge, and practice have led us to the conclusion that there is practically no issue today in Armenia whose resolution does not go through education, whether it is in foreign policy, domestic policy, construction, the humanitarian sector, or social issues," said the head of the country.

Pashinyan emphasized the importance of ensuring education in overcoming poverty, stating that welfare assistance nearly changes nothing in the lives of those people; inversely, receiving help becomes a routine for them. "We have condemned the children of these families to poverty in many cases because we did not notice that there was no school in their village, no kindergarten in their village. This is why we are convinced that if we want to solve social issues in Armenia, there is one way to address poverty: it is education, because today, we must look for the reasons why over 80 percent of those living in poverty in Armenia are poor due to the education they received or did not receive."