Currently 236 Syrian-Armenian pupils attend preschool educational institutions and over 600 pupils attend secondary educational institutions. 203 of them are studying at high schools of Armenia, 325 are studying at primary schools and 42 Syrian-Armenians attend private schools. 12 pupils study at regional schools.
Head of General Education Department of the RA Ministry of Education and Science Narine Hovhannisyan presented the above mentioned figures during the committee meetings coordinating Syrians’ issues.
“I must state that on arriving to Armenia all the Syrian-Armenians have been admitted to schools regardless of the fact whether they had documents or not. To note, the procedure of admission to pre-school facilities have been facilitated for them. They are accepted to kindergartens immediately after applying,” MEC representative stated.
In his words changes have also been made regarding the process of entering universities for Syrian-Armenian students. They enter universities by unsolicited program. Hovhannisyan noted that the government provides free educational opportunities to the Armenians from diaspora annually.
As for the tuition fee, Hovhannisyan claims that they pay the same sum prescribed for the RA residents. Notably the tuition fees for the foreign students are higher in Armenia.
MEC representative also noted that Arabic is taught in No.14 School of Yerevan from the first grade. In addition to the Arabic language, MES is also considering making an educational program for the Western Armenian to include it in the subject list.
“We already have a developed and approved teaching program for the Western Armenian for 10-11 grades, but we also need to introduce the subject in lower grades as well. Further works are to be carried out,” Hovhannisyan noted.
Minster of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan, who was chairing the meeting, reacted to Hovhannisyan speech noting that 42 teachers have moved from Aleppo to Armenia and they can teach Western Armenian to the Armenian pupils.
In Hovhannisyan’s words, the Syrian-Armenian students take part in all the educational programs and various competitions. Hranush Hakobyan added that she, in her turn, has been informed of the fast progress made by the Syrian-Armenian students from the heads of different universities.