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On December 20, on the initiative of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport parliamentary hearings on the theme The Reforms of Education and the Upcoming Strategic Challenges were held, where the NA deputies, the representatives of the government, the specialists and experts of the sphere took part.

The RA NA President Ararat Mirzoyan made welcome remarks. See the full speech here:

The Committee Chair Mkhitar Hayrapetyan noted that during the last one and a half year sufficient works had been done in the system. The speaker touched upon the works done in the pre-school, general educational and higher educational spheres, the steps taken towards the school building, the improvement of the school conditions, the formation of the senior schools and secondary professional institutions, the methodological problems of teaching and the critical way of thinking, the activity of the research institutes and the evaluation of the teacher’s institute.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan has underlined that without education, without educated officers and soldiers in the 21^st century it is impossible to have a combat army. To the Committee Chair’s conviction, the education cannot be combined with the vision of the economy and the development of economy.

He also talked about the legislative initiatives to be discussed in the near future, highlighted the dialogue, the disputes of the new quality on values, underlining that the legislative and executive body are ready for cooperation, listen to new ideas and proposals.

Stating that there have been and there are serious problems in the educational system, the RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Arayik Harutyunyan noted that they succeeded to depoliticize the system. The speaker has touched upon the fight against corruption, the problems and the programmes, the reforms, the gaps of the legislative regulations existing in the spheres of general education, has underlined that in the educational reform process the national component is emphasized.

The Deputy Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Hovhannes Hovhannisyan has noted that there is great interest towards education sphere and has said that the parliamentary hearings are considered to be an opportunity for having effective discussion aimed at reforms. The speaker referred to educational standards and the development of critical way of thinking among a number of items.

The RA NA deputy Gor Gevorgyan made a report on the theme The Assessment and Conclusions of the RA education system: the Succeeded, Failed and the Underway Educational Reforms and the Consequences of Depoliticization . Emphasizing the debate of the educational system in the format of the parliamentary hearings, he touched upon the assessment of the results, the reforms and educational reform existing there. The speaker underlined the idea of cooperation on the way of creating well-to do state and developed educational system.

The NA former deputy Aram Manukyan presented some statistical data concerning the sphere, related to demographic challenges and the guarantees of social protection. He talked about the problems existing in the educational system and the rural schools and raised the issue of encouraging the men teachers to teach at schools.

The journalist and publicist Levon Barseghyan, who had studied the system for many years in his speech spoke about the phenomena of evident inequality and discrimination in the sphere of education. The speaker reflected upon the pre-school institutions, the general education problems and literacy.

The NA deputy Naira Zohrabyan has noted that the education is the beginning of everything. The MP qualified as an achievement the depoliticization of the system. According to her, serious systemized changes are necessary for fight against corruption.

Touching especially the problems of the inclusive education the NA deputy Sofia Hovsepyan in her speech on the theme The Provision of Equality, Accessibility and Inclusiveness of the Right to Education as a Precondition of the Implementation of Social Justice noted that during the last one year a great deal of works had been done. She also talked about the problems of the mentors' role, the accessibility of surdologist-translation and the approach ramps.

The NA deputy Taron Simonyan has touched upon the challenges of the system, the prior goals of the education, noting that it is necessary to work out mechanisms for solving the existing problems.

At the discussion the participants reflected upon the inclusive education and the existing problems and obstacles were voiced. An opinion has been expressed that it is not understandable for many specialists of the sphere what is the inclusive education. In this context the pedagogues' training was highlighted for organizing at high level the education of the children with inclusive education.

The speakers also talked about the quality of the higher education, emphasized the creation of the firm link and cooperation between the higher educational institutions and labour market. They spoke about the reasons of non functioning of the general educational schools, considered necessary the elaboration of the new approaches in the sphere by the authorities. According to some speakers, there are professions in case of which it is very difficult to find specialists, therefore, it is necessary to remove the barrier existing between the average professional educational institutions and labour market, what is very important for the development of the economy.

During the hearings viewpoints have been voiced, according to which, the system of the senior schools has not functioned in our country, moreover, there are numerous problems not only in the senior schools, but also in the institutions providing secondary professional education. By the observation of the MP Lilit Stepanyan, to solve the abovementioned and other problems it is necessary to make legislative amendments, review the attitude towards the education and develop the secondary professional education.

The ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan reflected upon the problems of general education. She has negatively evaluated the decision invested several years ago, according to which, persons exclusively with pedagogue's certificate can teach. According to her, it hit the schools as teachers with very suspicious knowledge appear there. She also proposed to revise the textbooks especially paying attention to the accessibility of their content.

Kristine Tsaturyan presented the violations of building integrity in the sphere of education and its various manifestations, which impede the provision of qualified education.

Summing up the hearings the Deputy Chair of the Committee Hovhannes Hovhannisyan thanked for the concerned discussion, noting that in some cases of the voiced problems solutions have also been proposed, which is welcoming. He assured that the proposals demanding legislative amendments would certainly be called into life, and the proposals concerning the executive body would be sent to the Government.