Education in ethnic languages - significant issue with national minorities in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Wednesday, March 24 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." 



Mrs. Hranush Kharatyan, Mr. Vigen Kocharyan, Head of European and International Law Chair of Yerevan State University and Mr. Avetik Ishkhanyan, the Chairman of Helsinki Committee in Armenia led the discussion. 



Other participants of the event were officials from the Ministries of Education and Science, Youth Affairs and Sports, from Government Staff Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs, as well as representatives from Human Rights Defender's Office.  



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.