News - Protest being stage outside Armenia education ministry

A group of teachers with secondary vocational education who had not passed the mandatory certification threshold and were dismissed from their jobs in December 2023 are protesting in front of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia. They demand that they, like teachers with higher education, be sent for training first, and then be given another chance to pass the aforesaid certification. These teachers were outside the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport on December 25 as well, and had submitted their demands—in the form of a letter—to the ministry, but they have not received an answer so far. The head of Public Education Department of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Tamara Sargsyan, approached the protesting teachers and reminded them that the teachers without higher education should have been fired in August 2023, but they were given the opportunity to participate in the voluntary certification. She explained that Armenia’s teachers with secondary vocational education were not given a second chance for certification because the decision to give them the opportunity to be certified was a transitional provision in the respective law, and they had to pass certification the first time. "We consider that those teachers who have the desire to receive higher education and continue their work should be given that opportunity," added Sargsyan; But the protesting teachers were not satisfied with the answer, and they demand to meet with Zhanna Andreasyan, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia.