The Incoming Presidential Election and Education System

On January 14, 2008, a discussion on topic “The incoming presidential elections and education system” took place in HCA Vanadzor office.
  Representatives of Vanadzor public schools, prinsiples, teachers, representatives of political parties and NGOs participated in the discussion.
  The aim of the discussion was to clarify how the election procedure influences the educationl system and,in general, how they fit in the frames of law.
  HCA Vanadzor office president A. Saqunts mentions that the education system is being used during the elections, and as a result the dignity of the staff is insulted. The staffs of the schools are often included in this or that party without their eagerness. “Thus they are able to get the patronage of the party and feel themselves protected”.
  The political changes of today and the previous experience prove that the governing party uses its executive resources and complements its political ranks.
The principle of the school no. 23 mentioned that it was impossible to change the whole system, meanwhile he added that the staff itself is accountable for being politicised: “If they are week, they have to be used in some way”.
  The representative of HHSh party said that schools should stay away from politics in order not to pass the children the bad technologies used during the elections. “School is a bringing up system, and it is not fair for the government to use its levers towards children”.
All the participants shared the opinion.
  One of the teachers of the school no. 10 said that she had been working in the school for about 3 years. She was not a member of any political party and did not have any misunderstanding with the principle. No afforts had been made by the principle to make her be included into the ranks of this or that political party.
  The head of “HENK” NGO Arshaluys Zurabyan thinks that the problem is in the morality and values of people. The psychology of slaves is still present in people which becomes the reason of spreading of these kinds of facts, including being involved into political parties without their eagerness.
  The principle of the school no. 23 mentioned that 23 of the 60 employees are the members of the Republican Party, but nobody had forced them to be involved into the ranks of the party.
  The participants of Vanadzor public schools meeting stated that there will be no discriminative approach towards any of the candidates for the presidential elections. The principle of the school no. 23 mentioned that pre-election meetings with the candidates are being agreed with the superiors: “If the meeting’s nature is not antipropagative it becomes possible to organize the meeting”.
  The experience of the previous years shows that the change of the governing parties has its negative influence on the content of the education programs, especially on the History of Armenian Nation.
  As a result of the discussion the following conclusion was made: the education system, especially the principles and the teachers, should stay away from the influence of political parties, since the aim of the education system is to educate the future citizens and not the future members of the political party.
  Many school representatives did not attend the meeting. In the beginning of the meeting two participants announced that they had been called to Lori marzpetaran Department of Education and left.