NUMBER OF FREE EDUCATIONAL PLACES ALLOCATED FOR MIDDLE AND INITIAL
PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTIONS HAS INCREASED BY ABOUT 1000

YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of free educational places,
in general, has increased by about 1000 this year for the purpose of
giving the children from socially unprovided families an opportunity to
receive a middle professional and initial professional education: this
number in middle and initial professional educational instituitons
makes, correspondingly, 2568 and 2565. This information was provided to
a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Samvel Pipoyan, the Head of the
Department on Craftsmanship and Medium Specialized Education of the RA
Ministry of Education and Science.

He mentioned that the number of entrants in middle and initial
professional educational institutions is gradually decreasing year
after year: it has decreased by about 3000 during the past seven years
and made 7000 in 2006. According to him, the number of entrants in
musical and art educational institutions, in particular, has decreased.
There are also such institutions, where free places are still vacant.
In the words of Samvel Pipoyan, there are a lot of entrants, who have
chosen medical, economical, accounting professions.

At present, 80 middle state, 25 non-state, and 27 state initial
professional educational institutions operate in Armenia. Entrance
examinations, which have started since the half of July, will continue
until the end of August in these institutions.