DISCUSSION ON THE ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN MINORITY LANGUAGES HELD IN YEREVAN

Armradio.am
24.03.2010 14:40

Young representatives of national minorities, authorities and
civil society experts discussed today issues of equal rights, equal
opportunities for national minorities in Armenia focusing on access
to education in minority languages.

At this UN DPI-supported forum the participants also discussed the
specifics of implementation in Armenia of the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages, the Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities, and UN International Human Rights
Covenants and Conventions.

UN DPI Representative Maria Dotsenko said: "Despite the fact
that the national minorities seem to be well integrated into the
mainstream society and are enjoying equal rights with their fellow
ethnic Armenians, there are some sensitive issues connected to the
preservation or renaissance of their respective languages, specifics
of organization of the education on their ethnic languages, training
of teachers and supply of textbooks."

Mrs. Hranush Kharatyan, Head of Anthropology Chair of the State
University of Linguistics said: "Proper organization of education
requires not only enthusiasm and good will of communities, but
also support from the state, long-term planning and solid financial
investments."

During the discussion, the participants raised a variety of issues,
while the experts and authorities gave recommendations on how to deal
with them in the framework of the responsibilities that Armenia has
committed itself.

The event is the second one of the series, initiated by the UN DPI
Yerevan within the framework of International Year of Youth: Dialogue
and Mutual Understanding and International Year for the Rapprochement
of Cultures.