Azernews.Az

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Armenian government is depriving the country's education system of basic support. The trend has put the teachers into lots of troubles which are reflected in much works and low salaries.

Deputy Director of the National Institute of Education Anahit Bakhshyan, and Armenia's former Education Minister Ashot Bleyan commented on teachers' current condition in Armenia. Bakhshyan said the government must appreciate teachers' work and pay them an appropriate salary. She added that the vicious trend in Armenia's education system is rooted in this fact that the government does not appreciate teachers' works.

"Government does not hold anyone responsible for low-quality education, because there is not a clear concept of good or bad teachers in Armenia," Bakhshyan said.

Armenian education system is consisted of pre-school, general secondary, special secondary, vocational, higher and post-graduate stages. Constitution of Armenia defines the secondary education as a compulsory and free of charge education. Secondary education in the post-Soviet country has 3 levels. The duration of the education in the secondary schools is 10 years.

Bakhshyan noted that education must be depoliticized in Armenia to get rid of the existing problems.

Bleyan said teachers are the most unprotected social group in Armenia. He added that each new school year is likely to turn to the last one for the teachers. "Teachers often lose their jobs due to the demographic problems, low birthrate and emigration. They are not protected against losing their jobs. The law regulates neither teacher's salary, nor the working hours and extra payments," Bleyan stated.

Armenia is struggling with a deteriorating education crisis along with other social services. Public spending on the education constitutes only 3.3 percent of the country's GDP. Low public expenditure on education has contributed to the deterioration of school facilities, and consequently affected the quality of education in the country. The rural areas lack the learning and teaching materials at schools.

An average monthly salary of teacher in Armenia is $344. The government announced plans to increase the average salary of the full-paid teachers at secondary schools to nearly $373 in 2014.

Bleyan said teachers' salaries have remained unchanged over the last two or three years in Armenia and the government has not envisaged any rise in the mid-term expenditure program.

Lack of innovative measures and modern technological achievements have doomed Armenia's education to remain dependent on the outdated Soviet education system. The Global Competitiveness Report ranked Armenia 121st among 144 countries in terms of the procurement of advanced technologies.

UNICEF data shows that close to 80 percent of pre-school age children do not attend pre-schools . It subsequently resulted in the closure of a great number of pre-schools leaving many teachers out of job.