The Armenian Education System: A Human Right or a Paid Privilege?

31.08.2001- I laid out my clothes, ready to start my first day of school the next day. I was finally going to the first grade, I would learn to read, a dream coming true.

But my parents had other plans. My father had left for Belgium in 1996, and now we were going to join him. I wasn’t happy at all. I couldn’t care less about my father, I cried the whole night. All I wanted was to go to school – not to Belgium.

Eventually, I did start first grade – but in Belgium. I learned Dutch as if it were my own language, and I knew that one day, when I grew up, I wanted to become a teacher.

That dream came true: I became a primary school teacher.

Although I was privileged to return to Hayastan every year, I never truly saw how school life there worked. Each time I went, I dreamed of organizing something for the children in Armenia – games, maybe an after-school homework class, or perhaps I could teach them French!

Thanks to Birthright, I finally had the chance to see the Armenian school system up close and to help where I could.

At first, the journey was a little rough, because I quickly discovered that the Armenian education system was quite different from the one in Belgium. In Armenia, there is such a thing as private education – something that truly shocked me.

A country like Armenia, a developing nation, had private schooling?

To me, education is like air – we all need it to live. Education is knowledge, education is life. It should be accessible to everyone, and it should never be for sale.

A country like Armenia should therefore provide quality education for all, to support the nation’s growth and development.

Getting into the public education system turned out to be a difficult task due to administrative requirements. So my journey continued in private education.

In addition to observing classes, reviewing teaching methods, and speaking with students, teachers, and principals, I was also allowed to take initiative myself.

At one school, I was given the responsibility of training a new teacher. In Armenia, teachers who have just graduated from the university of pedagogy are not yet considered fully qualified. They must first work for several months or even years as assistant teachers before they can have their own class. In their own class, they usually teach Armenian and mathematics, while other subjects are taught by subject- specific teachers.

I was also allowed to teach science – in English. This method was imported from abroad, and therefore the subject is also taught in English. I felt grateful that I could support the students in both languages and explain things in Armenian whenever they didn’t understand something.

Among the familiar subjects we also teach in Belgium, there was one that was completely new to me : chess.

From the second grade onwards, Armenian children take chess lessons as part of the national curriculum. Beyond its cultural value, I believe that chess helps children to develop logic land problem-solving thinking. According to scientific research, it also has a positive effect on students’ performance in mathematics and language.

Most private schools are beautifully designed and fully equipped. The buildings are solid, new, and accessible. Students receive extra subjects or after – school activities, classes are more differentiated, and there is a strong focus on English. Children who graduate from these schools have a better chance of being admitted to top universities abroad. Teachers are also better paid, thanks to the high tuition fees parents must pay for their children.

In other words: the higher the cost, the better the care.

Education should not be a free market.

With a heavy heart, I return to Belgium – but I hope one day I will be able to come back, with a project of my own.