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ARMENIAN KIDS CALL OFF STRIKE
Calcutta Telegraph
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100804/jsp/calcutta/story_12768004.jsp
Aug 3 2010
India
Students staying in the city's Armenian College and Philanthropic
Academy called off their two-day-old hunger strike on Tuesday after
getting word from Armenia that their problems would be looked into.
Thirty-five of the 80 students of Armenian origin staying on the
Free School Street premises had refused food since Monday morning to
protest the alleged high-handedness of the authorities.
The students said their parents had met the church authorities in
Armenia and had been assured of action in the matter. "We are lifting
the strike and waiting to see how the authorities respond," one of
the boys said. "A representative of His Holiness will come here from
Armenia on Wednesday to look into the situation," said another.
The students have alleged that they were being forced to study in
"second-rate" institutions as the management was not funding their
education properly. The college runs a free school for Armenian
children up to Class X and also funds the college education of students
from the community.
Some elders in the community are supporting the students' cause. "The
college has been gradually deteriorating. There were cuts in the
provisions for clothes, basic necessities and nutrition. Large amounts
were spent on unnecessary renovation and repairs," said Sonia John,
a former honorary manager of the college and former chairperson of
the Armenian church committee (Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth).
"Father Khoren Hovhannisyan, the manager of the college and pastor
of the Armenians in India, had been defrocked but forgiven and then
sent to India to prove his worth as the manager," said John.
"I had left a corpus of Rs 26.5 crore when I left in 2005. The church
earns huge sums from legacies left by wealthy Armenians. From Sir
Catchick Paul Chater's legacy, the church earns Rs 14 crore every
year," she said.
But this wealth was not being used to help the students who come from
Armenia, Iran and Iraq, John felt.
From: A. Papazian
Calcutta Telegraph
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100804/jsp/calcutta/story_12768004.jsp
Aug 3 2010
India
Students staying in the city's Armenian College and Philanthropic
Academy called off their two-day-old hunger strike on Tuesday after
getting word from Armenia that their problems would be looked into.
Thirty-five of the 80 students of Armenian origin staying on the
Free School Street premises had refused food since Monday morning to
protest the alleged high-handedness of the authorities.
The students said their parents had met the church authorities in
Armenia and had been assured of action in the matter. "We are lifting
the strike and waiting to see how the authorities respond," one of
the boys said. "A representative of His Holiness will come here from
Armenia on Wednesday to look into the situation," said another.
The students have alleged that they were being forced to study in
"second-rate" institutions as the management was not funding their
education properly. The college runs a free school for Armenian
children up to Class X and also funds the college education of students
from the community.
Some elders in the community are supporting the students' cause. "The
college has been gradually deteriorating. There were cuts in the
provisions for clothes, basic necessities and nutrition. Large amounts
were spent on unnecessary renovation and repairs," said Sonia John,
a former honorary manager of the college and former chairperson of
the Armenian church committee (Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth).
"Father Khoren Hovhannisyan, the manager of the college and pastor
of the Armenians in India, had been defrocked but forgiven and then
sent to India to prove his worth as the manager," said John.
"I had left a corpus of Rs 26.5 crore when I left in 2005. The church
earns huge sums from legacies left by wealthy Armenians. From Sir
Catchick Paul Chater's legacy, the church earns Rs 14 crore every
year," she said.
But this wealth was not being used to help the students who come from
Armenia, Iran and Iraq, John felt.
From: A. Papazian