Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenian media and public organizations have been ringing the alarm bell, as the country faces catastrophic population decline due to the large-scale migration.

Thousands of people leave the country every year for various reasons: unemployment, corruption, impossibility to withstand the country’s government, etc. This, in turn, leads to the reduction in the number of school-age children in Armenia, but the country’s authorities seem not to care about this problem.

During the government session on May 11, Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan instructed the Education and Science Minister to submit proposals on optimization of urban schools, given the optimal workload of teachers, Armenian media reported.

This wording is surprising because the current workload of Armenian teachers is not high – the number of students in schools has declined so much that in many schools of Armenia the number of teachers becomes equal to the number of students.

Many teachers barely ‘survive’ as they do not have enough work – their workload should be increased but it is impossible as Armenia is suffering from lack of young generation.

While addressing the government session, Premier Karapetyan optimistically spoke about the ‘bright’ future of the Armenian educational system, but the reality is disturbing – even the official statistics are terrifying.

The data of the National Statistical Service of Armenia show that about 35,000 schoolchildren left Armenia over the past six years. As a result, many classes and sometimes school are becoming empty in the country.

The number of first-graders in Armenia has sharply reduced due to emigration and falling birth rate. In some villages, there are schools where only seniors remained – after their graduation Armenia will get another batch of empty schools.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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