Armenian ombudsman Karen Andreasyan assessed the problems and developments in 2011 activities of Armenian Ministry of Education and Science.
As the ombudsman’s administration told PanARMENIAN.Net, the annual report was compiled basing on the complaints filed to human rights defender’s office, analysis of the legislation, trustworthy media publications and information obtained from other sources.
Andreasyan highlighted the following problems: the ministry did not take timely actions to specify the legal basis for organizing and conducting tenders for secondary school textbooks, neither did the published textbooks undergo the required expertise. All this resulted in a number of editorial, spelling and publication errors in textbooks which violated the students’ right for proper education.
Despite annual allocation of resources from state budget for educational institutions’ heating systems, many schools still face the problem of heating during winter. Rural schools were not provided with catering services.
The ombudsman named the increased number of inclusive schools which rose by 15 and totaled 81 throughout the country, as positive development.
The government decided to pilot universal inclusive education project in Tavush province targeting children with special educational needs.
In academic year 2011-2012, chess has been introduced into school curriculum for 2nd grade students.
