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Speaking In Tongues: Government Further Moderates Position In Foreig

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  • Speaking In Tongues: Government Further Moderates Position In Foreig

    SPEAKING IN TONGUES: GOVERNMENT FURTHER MODERATES POSITION IN FOREIGN-LANGUAGE SCHOOL DEBATE
    NAZIK ARMENAKYAN

    ArmeniaNow
    Education | 30.09.10 | 15:17

    By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
    ArmeniaNow reporter

    The draft law on amendments in the law on language has been temporarily
    taken off the parliament agenda.

    The Armenian Government is no longer pressing for changes in one of
    the two laws that would pave the way for opening a limited number
    of schools in Armenia teaching curricula in a language other than
    Armenian.

    Five months after the Government proposed the changes, it now appears
    the matter will be dropped from discussion in this current seating
    of the National Assembly.

    The Government's initial move to amend the laws was met with strong
    opposition by a considerable number of intellectuals, journalists,
    politicians and various public groups who say that such changes
    threatened the very core of Armenian identity.

    Members of the 131-seat National Assembly of Armenia voted in June by
    71 yeas to 13 nays to clear, through the first reading, a controversial
    package of amendments to the laws 'On the Language' and 'On General
    Education'. The package was to go for a second-reading discussion
    and voting this fall, possibly in its modified form.

    But having given up its intentions to change the Language Law and clear
    it through the second-reading vote, the government still appears to
    remain adamant in its position that changes and amendments must be
    made in the Law 'On General Education'.

    If adopted, these changes will still clear the way for opening 11
    alternative schools in Armenia, two of which are planned as non-state
    education institutions that will operate in the resort towns of Dilijan
    and Jermuk and will teach foreign-language curricula beginning from
    the seventh grade up (in the 12-year education system).

    The remaining nine foreign-language schools would be set up based
    on interstate and intergovernmental agreements and would teach only
    beginning from the third level of secondary education, i.e. high
    school.

    Armenian-related subjects, such as the language, literature, history
    of the Armenian people and church at such schools still must be taught
    in Armenian, according to the proposed legislation.

    The government initiative to amend legislation to clear the way for
    foreign-language schools has been a matter of stormy debates in recent
    months and even gave rise to a Facebook movement "We Are Against the
    Reopening of Foreign-Language Schools".

    Critics, in particular, fear that the removal of the ban on
    foreign-language education reflects the desire to restore primarily
    Russian-language education, which was banned in Armenia's state schools
    in the early 1990s shortly after the country gained independence. By
    that time, a considerable number of people in Armenia had completed
    secondary education in Russian, the state language in the former
    Soviet Union that was required for any successful career.

    Opponents of the bill also have concerns that the statutory changes
    accentuate the "inferior" nature of Armenian as compared to other
    languages and fear that Armenians taught in a foreign language will
    lose the ability to have "an Armenian language-mentality".

    The government, meanwhile, believes a limited number of such schools
    will only help raise the quality of general education in Armenia and
    will also allow Armenia to borrow extensively from the experience of
    foreign and international educators working in Armenia.

    Strong criticism from those who oppose the initiative even prompted the
    initiators of an international school in Dilijan, a project planned
    for 2013, to address a letter to the Public Council of Armenia,
    stating that they are "seriously considering the suspension of work
    on the project" as in the current situation they "do not view it as
    feasible to develop the project, as it is fundamentally incorrect to
    create a school in an atmosphere that rejects it."

    Dilijan project officials are likely to announce their final decision
    after the next reunion of the school's Board of Trustees scheduled
    for October.

    Discussion of changes in the law began soon after the announcement
    of a $60-million project for an international school in Dilijan, and
    groundbreaking took place in April and was attended by the initiator,
    Moscow-based Armenian tycoon Ruben Vardanyan, and Armenian President
    Serzh Sargsyan.

    This led the pressure group opposed to the changes to assume that it
    is this project that, in particular, triggered the whole initiative
    on amending the laws.

    Education and Science Minister Armen Ashotyan said during parliamentary
    hearings on the subject held on Monday that if the package of
    legislative changes is adopted the first school with subjects taught
    in a foreign language is likely to open in Armenia as early as in
    2012 or 2013.

    Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan, in turn, said that the issue is
    so delicate that it requires a comprehensive review.

    "Our task is to preserve the national image, the language and
    continuity, avoid another assimilation and risks of alienation, on
    the other hand [our task is] not to limit international cooperation,
    the exchange of experience in educating generations, to be flexible
    in the matter of organizing education, to be capable of rapidly
    responding and staying competitive," said the parliament speaker.

    Abrahamyan suggested defining in the Law 'On General Education' notions
    like "Alternative Education Program", "Author's Education Program",
    "Experimental Education Program" and "International Education Program",
    as well as to maintain the principle of limiting the establishment
    and regional quotas for institutions of general education teaching
    alternative educational curricula.

    Members of the civil group "We Are Against the Reopening of
    Foreign-Language Schools" who attended the hearings appeared
    unconvinced and voiced their dissatisfaction even after this new
    concession.

    They said they were against opening any kind of school teaching in
    a foreign language in Armenia and that no changes should be made in
    the Law 'On General Education' either.

    The proposed changes in the law are unlikely to come up for parliament
    discussion at the coming session period pending further elaboration.




    From: A. Papazian
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