Many Armenian kids fail to attend school due to poverty
By Rashid Shirinov
Every year, hundreds of Armenian children fail to attend schools for social problems that covered the whole country. This year, the number of such children increased even more.
Thus, 302 children will not attend school and leave their education incomplete, the Armenian National Center of Educational Technologies declared. 191 of them forced to leave the school because of difficult social conditions, 1in.am reported.
In 2015, relatively smaller number of children remained without education in this poor South Caucasian country – 250 people, and 143 of them – for social obstacles.
Ruzanna Muradyan, MP from Republican Party of Armenia, commenting on the issue stated that these statistics are alarming indeed.
She noted that in the past there was a special working procedure for children left outside the education system. The procedure identified causes of that; moreover, work on the children’s returning to school was being carried out. Muradyan stressed that today Armenia have several such social programs and many people willing to help. However, the problem is that Armenian government cannot systematize all that in one.
Member of faction "Hello, Yerevan!" Anahit Bakhshyan, in turn, noted that, according to the law, the responsibility to ensure that children are involved in the educational system is entrusted to the local authorities and, first and foremost, to directors of schools.
“Director should find out the reasons, and the society should be very attentive and take care of this issue," Bakhshyan stressed.
In the meantime, many Armenian children, instead of going to school and receiving knowledge, have to work every day to provide food for their poor families. About 30 percent of working children in Armenia are under 14, statistics reveal.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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