Armenian parliament begins debates on foreign language instruction bill

YEREVAN, June 9, /ARKA/. The Armenian parliament began today debates on a revised government bill allowing a limited number of schools in Armenia to teach in a foreign language as a crowd of angry Armenians gathered outside the government building to express their protest against the motion.

Education minister Armen Ashotian said the bill was in circulation for a long timer and all criticism, expressed by both government officials, non-governmental organizations and prominent Armenians, were incorporated into it.

The Armenian government last month approved a set of draft amendments eliminating the ban on foreign-language curricula in schools. Under the revised bill, the number of schools where pupils will be taught in a foreign language from the fifth grade up will be limited to 15, eight will be in Yerevan and 7 in regions. The bill also limits the number of schools which use the same instruction language to 5.

Addressing parliament members, the minister said the bill provides strong guarantees that teaching of Armenian language in such schools will be on a high level. He said also students of schools with foreign-language instruction would be required to take the graduation examination in Armenian.

Naira Zohrabian, an MP from the Prosperous Armenia party, a junior coalition partner, said her party was against the bill. She reminded of proposed changes that call for strengthening foreign language teaching at higher grades.

Critics of the law claim that if passed the bill would endanger the constitutional status of Armenian as the country's sole official language. There are over 1000 secondary schools in Armenia-in two the instruction language is Russian, but only Russian citizens and non-Armenians are enrolled by them. -0-