VARDENIS DIARY: STRUCTURALLY UNSOUND SCHOOL NOT SLATED FOR RENOVATION
Kristine Aghalaryan

2010/02/22 | 16:22

Building Hosts Village Weddings and Playground

Even in the dead of winter, pupils at the Vardenis village school in
Aragatzotn have a place to play football.

The cold winds blowing through the broken windows of the gymnasium
and the thick dust rising up from its crumbling floor doesn’t seem
to bother the kids though.

Sometimes, the pupils have to make way so that the gym can be used
as a wedding hall for newlyweds and their guests. Since the village
has no banquet facilities, the gym is the most convenient space around.

129 pupils attend classes in unsafe school

Vardenis is located five kilometers south of the regional capital of
Aparan. 129 pupils attend the village school. The school’s basement
is flooded during the spring thaw. During the school’s thirty year
history, no repairs have been made to the building. Ever since the
1988 earthquake, it’s been structurally unsound.

Plans were drafted to repair the damage but that was all forgotten
when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Rouzan Makaryan, the school administrator, says that nobody really
shows any interest in the fate of the school. "The school board always
requests that the issue be brought to the attention of the government.

The principle assures us that it has but we haven’t seen any tangible
results."

When we visited the school, the principle wasn’t in the village to
talk to.

Former parliament speaker Torosyan hails from Vardenis

We asked if there weren’t any wealth benefactors in the village willing
to help. Mrs. Makaryan said that former National Assembly President
Tigran Torosyan was the only official from the town and that he’s
never publicly admitted that his roots are in Vardenis. She added
that Mr. Torosyan has never offered any assistance.

When we spoke to a group of men at the village social club about their
community’s problems, the first thing they mentioned was the school.

"There are no floorboards. They just laid down some sand. We celebrate
all the weddings, baptisms and army parties at the school. What else
can we do?" asked Artur Grigoryan.

"Do you think a bride who holds a wedding there will have kids?" joked
a guy in the crowd. One of the school’s outer walls is covered in
glass and a large portion is broken. Two liters of fuel per day is
consumed to heat the classrooms, but on a very windy day even the
burner doesn’t work.

"The kids come home frozen to the bone or covered in soot," says
Vardenis Mayor Kamo Petrosyan.

Winter winds blow through broken school windows

Mayor Petrosyan says that the village is partially supplied with
natural gas. He points out, however, that even if the entire village
was serviced, gas couldn’t be supplied to the school due to structural
problems. He said that it’s amazing that the government has decreed
that classrooms maintain a temperature of 18 degrees to prevent flu
outbreaks. "How the heck can we maintain an 18 degree minimum with no
windows? How can you heat such large rooms with 2-3 liters," he asks.

The school’s drainage system has been out of order for years and there
are no toilet facilities. For the past four years, pupils have been
using the bathrooms of neighboring residents. Now, a wooden outhouse
has been built for the kids.

Pupils of the first seven grades are housed in the school.

Administrator Makaryan boasted that there will be nine pupils in next
year’s first grade class.

"I am concerned that this number will drop the following year because
young people are leaving the village. I’d venture to say that half
of Vardenis is now to be found in Russia or Yerevan," she says and
points to the condition of the school as one of the reasons.

There’s an excess of professionals at the school, rather than a
shortage. The administrator assured us that the level of education
at the school is high, regardless of the difficulties faced and the
fact that teachers do not receive a "hardship allowance" for working
in a mountainous zone.

"Compared to neighboring villages, Vardenis lies in a hollow. They
get the allowance in Mulki and Chknagh, not us," says Mrs. Makaryan.

School repairs on tap; or are they?

There are no plans for repairing the school. Mayor Petrosyan raised
the issue of the school at the February 3 meeting of the Aragatzotn
Regional Council attended by Armen Gevorgyan, Vice Prime Minister
and Minister for Territorial Administration.

"The school’s plumbing system is clogged and the basement is flooded.

I won’t even bring up the fact that the school’s interior is not
the friendliest in terms of encouraging pupils to learn," said Mayor
Petrosyan. He added that the government has yet to make any specific
pledges regarding the school’s repair and maintenance.

The mayor told us that Vardenis residents sent a letter to President
Sargsyan last September. The letter was initialed by the Urban
Development Department at the Aragatzotn Regional Authority.

In its response, the Aragatzotn Regional Authority confirmed that the
school was included in the 2009-2013 regional construction plan and
that 90 million AMD had been budgeted for reconstruction and repair.

"As far as I understand, that amount won’t even be enough for cosmetic
repairs," Mayor Petrosyan said.

Pargev Hambardzumyan, who heads the Department of Education, Culture
and Sports at the Aragatzotn Authority, told Hetq that while the school
has been included in the four year plan, the plan itself still hasn’t
been ratified by the government.

"Yes, draft budgets and outlines have been drawn up. But reconstruction
of the Vardenis school still hasn’t been formally approved in any
government sponsored school construction project," Mr. Hambardzumyan
said.