By HASMIK HAMBARDZUMIAN – The Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Tuesday, Jun. 01, 2010
YEREVAN, ARMENIA In an echo of the debate over bilingual education that raged in the United States for years, writers, opposition groups and nationalists are protesting plans to allow Armenian schools to conduct classes in English.
These opponents claim that the move would relegate the Armenian language to second-class status.
“This presents a great danger to the independence of Armenia. Armenian will become a domestic language, and our independence will exist only on paper,” said Vahan Ishkhanyan, an influential blogger and former editor of Ankax newspaper.
Current law requires that Armenian be used in all classroom instructions.
But Ruben Vardanyan, an ethnic Armenian billionaire, wants to change that. Vardanyan has proposed building a major financial center in the town of Dilijan. For his plan to succeed, he needs a large number of workers who are proficient in English.
A bill to allow the use of English in schools has already been introduced in parliament.
Education Minister Armen Ashotyan has promised that only a small number of non-Armenian language schools could be opened under the law.
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Tags: Armenian, English
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May 20, 2010
YEREVAN — A body of prominent Armenians that advises President Serzh Sarkisian has joined opposition critics in rejecting legislation that would permit foreign-language schools, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports.
Vazgen Manukian, chairman of the Public Council, said on May 19 that his group submitted a unanimous and “highly negative” assessment of the education bill to Sarkisian in the hope that it will be withdrawn from parliament.
Armenia’s first post-Communist government, in which Manukian served as prime minister, adopted measures after coming to power in 1990 that ensured the primacy of the Armenian language in the national education system.
A law on education adopted at the time stipulates that only members of ethnic minorities and foreign citizens may study in schools where the main subjects are taught in a language other than Armenian.
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SATURDAY, 10 APRIL 2010 10:18
National Education Ministry representatives told that ministry started to work on introduction of Armenian language in schools as optional subject. Initiative will be continued with optional Arabian and Jewish language classes.
As Turkey continue initiatives toward normalization of relations with Armenia, National Education Ministry prepares to make another gesture. Haberturk website reported that one of the representatives from Ministry told, “We are struggling to accommodate our educational system with world standarts. In this regard, we started to work on initiation of optional Armenian, Arabian and Jewish language classes. We will look if they can be optional classes or cources.”
It is reported that the initiative of National Education Ministry is being made within the frames of Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbours” policy. The initiative will be enforced from the next year if Council of Ministers approves the project. “We should not avoid learning languages of our neighbours. Jewish language should be added to that,” said the ministry representative.
National Education Ministry also made steps for providing education for the children of illegal Armenian workers in Turkey. Ministry distributed free textbooks to the Armenian schools in Istanbul.
Source: http://www.historyoftruth.com/news/latest/6438-armenian-language-classes-may-be-optional-in-schools
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