Vazgen Manukyan: Only those will come to the field of science who are worthy and not those, who come only for avoiding to join the army

Mr. Manukyan, the National Assembly in the first reading adopted the draft law on “the Military Service and Servicemen’s Status” in the first reading, according to which amendments of rights to receive academic procrastination will take place. According to that amendment, academic procrastination will only be given to students who will sign agreement with the Ministry of Defense on serving in the army not for two but three years after finishing the studies. Some layers of the society consider this change to be a dangerous for higher education system and science development. What do you, as a person being close to both science and army, think about the changes?

-Of course, the draft law was not suggested due to good life conditions. On the one hand we have a serious problem with protecting our frontiers, on the other hand we face  reduced fertility and emigration. Besides, our officer staff, part of which was formed during the Artsakh war and the other part, from our compatriots who moved to Armenian Army from the Soviet Union Army, is already aging; there is a need for a newly-formed officer staff. Emigration and national problems are other important topics that should be discussed. But now we have what we have; and decisions must be made for the situation. As to the question whether it will influence science or not, then it should be mentioned that the law has both positive aspects and consequences that cannot be very positive. The positive thing is that until now, it was a means to get rid of the army by entering science, and because there were limited places for post-graduate students, etc., people would buy those places, often leaving out worthy young people. There was corruption. At least the law cleans the sphere from corruption. Only those will come to the field of science who are worthy and not those, who come only for avoiding to join the army. It means that corruption will diminish, negative phenomena will decline, it will become hard for officials to help their children to avoid serving in the army. And from this point of view there is a positive side for science. Apart from everything, the protection of the Homeland is everyone’s responsibility, and we should consider the negative aspects according to the fields.

For example, most of the scientists of not natural sciences write scientific works at a mature age, because life experience and knowledge that you have accumulated are very important. From this perspective, I think, joining the army will not be harmful, but on the contrary, they will become mature in their fields.

It is a bit different in natural sciences, especially in mathematics. Many seemingly impossible discoveries are made at the very young age, since human brains discover things that seem to be impossible to detect. And it is not a coincidence that many mathematicians have their first discoveries at the age of 20-21. And it is dangerous to cut them out of science.

For example, French mathematician Galois, who died in the battle at the age of 20, in 1811, is considered to be the founder of modern higher algebra, and is one of the most famous figures in mathematics. Our compatriot Mergelian was 22 years old when he solved the problem of Bernstein, thus entering the history of mathematics. That is, this age is very important, and the breakdown in other natural sciences will not have a positive element. However, as the military-industrial complex is rapidly developing in the army, and as there are sports and other battalions, I think that the military-industrial complex will create appropriate institutes within the army that these gifted young people can serve in the army without leaving their profession.

It’s more difficult, for example, for pianists or violinists because they have to play several hours per day, constantly exercising their fingers. Or the problem of ballet dancers, ans so on. It’s very difficult to set some exceptions because you open that crack everyone starts to go to it. And one day you will see that a young man, weighing 120kg, will be formulated as a ballet dancer in order to avoid joining the army. In my opinion, the issue of academic procrastination will have other, only positive, solutions in the future, but there is a very important thing. It is not a secret that many in our society help their children to avoid serving in the army, some even emigrate, that is to say, the feeling of defending the Homeland that should be natural in a country where such a situation is, many, unfortunately, do not have it. If this level of patriotism and responsibility is not raised, it will be very difficult to solve the army problems in the future. Certainly, something here depends on the authorities, but something depends on the society as well, since I do not think that Israel’s internal life is complete, there is no corruption and everything is OK, but it is an honor for any citizen of Israel to serve in the army. That is, these arguments to avoid serving in the army are at least half fake. At the same time, the issue of population growth should also be solved. I think, in fact, it is possible to develop both the economy and to improve the internal life.

I would even say that I disagree with the President’s careful clause that in 2040 the population should reach about 4 million.The population should reach 5-6 million, and I think it is quite realistic to solve this problem by birth rate increase and immigration.