NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTED AMENDMENTS TO LAW ON EDUCATION

Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
25 Aug 2006

On August 23, the National Assembly met to discuss the amendments
to the NKR Law on Education. Speaker Ashot Ghulian emphasized
the importance of ideas of members of the parliament and teachers
expressed during the August 21 parliamentary hearings, as well as the
explanations by the officials invited from the Republic of Armenia. The
minister of education, culture and sport Kamo Atayan emphasized the
necessity of introducing the 12-year school education and presented
the preparations. The conclusion of the Social Committee, which
was presented by Arpat Avanessian, chair was positive. Touching
upon the preparations, namely special furniture for 6-year-old
children, as well as training of teachers, Member of Parliament
Lyudmila Barseghian emphasized the importance of the problem and
therefore she said she would vote for the amendments. Member of
Parliament Gegham Baghdassarian said the parliamentary group ARF –
Movement 88 accepts the idea and essence of the new system but would
abstain from voting because they thought, "it would be preferable
if the adoption of the new system was not compulsory, but conscious,
and what is more important, after due preparations, what we failed to
do." At the same time, he said, " considering the importance of public
debates, we propose continuing these debates even after adopting the
new system." The speaker said during the parliamentary hearings an
arrangement was made to resume the hearings by the end of this year
or in the middle of the academic year to discuss the difficulties,
preparations, as well as the advantages and disadvantages, which will
become clear later. As for the compulsory adoption, he said it is
impossible, because everyone is free to express their opinion. There
were no other opinions, and the bill was put to vote. The absolute
majority voted for the amendments. After the voting Speaker Ashot
Ghulian made two announcements, which referred to offering proposals
on the draft conclusion of the parliamentary hearings on the Karabakh
settlement in April and the upcoming debates on the draft of the NKR
Constitution. NKR National Assembly Press Secretary

AA. 25-08-2006