Children's constitutional right is violated (video)
Zaruhi Batoyan, head of the Disibility Info NGO, said that it is only written that secondary education in Armenia is free. "Parents are paying for textbooks and monthly funds." Based on her complaint, RA Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan applied to the Constitutional Court. "Even though this can be considered as a small amount for the textbooks, it is, first of all, a violation of the constitutional right because education should be free, as it is stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. This can cause different problems for children, families, and classes. In addition to financial problems, psychological problems can also arise," says Zaruhi Batoyan. The RA Law on Education stipulates that textbooks are free only for 1-4 grade pupils. and for other pupils' textbooks, the parents pay 3,000 drams and more. The law also does not state anything about releasing vulnerable groups from paying textbooks, and puts the solution to this issue on pedagogues. "As a counter-argument, the Ministry of Education and Science can state that they provide free of charge for disabled or socially vulnerable families; this is not justified. This is a discriminatory approach, which makes the child more vulnerable. There is a problem with the teacher as well, since this duty is often put on the teacher, which can have a negative impact," said Zaruhi Batoyan. The issue of providing free textbooks will be examined by the Constitutional Court on March 20.
