Armenia excludes Russian language from the list of core subjects

Russian has the status of a foreign language in Armenia, but in the Armenian educational system it has always been assigned the role of compulsory study. Starting this year, changes are being introduced in Armenian schools, News.Az reports citing Sputnik Armenia .

In Armenia, new state educational standards for schools came into force in the 2024-2025 academic year. Back in the summer, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia sent out a circular to all schools regarding the teaching of foreign languages.

In the state standard, Russian remains the first and mandatory foreign language to study. In the circular, however, everything is different: for a number of classes in educational institutions, Russian has moved from the status of basic (mandatory) to the status of foreign (optional). At the same time, 2 hours a week are allocated for each foreign language.

That is, "The Russian language" as an independent subject remained only in grades 4, 9 (three hours a week), 11, and 12 (two hours a week). For students in grades 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10, there is no separate subject "Russian language". There is "Foreign Language 1" and "Foreign Language 2". This misled the directors of educational institutions and puzzled Russian specialists.

The directors of a number of schools took this directive ambiguously and "the old-fashioned way" divided the hours between foreign languages. According to the circular, they have the right to distribute the hours allocated for language instruction themselves and decide which one to give preference to.

A number of Russianists in conversation with us expressed concerns about the "amendments" in the circular. In particular, they believe that if not this year, then in the coming years, the hours allocated to the Russian language will be reduced and completely excluded from the school curriculum.

The Russian House told us that they also receive calls from concerned school principals with whom they have had long-standing partnerships.

“We understand their concerns, but we cannot comment on decisions made by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia,” we were told.

In response to a request from Sputnik Armenia, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia confirmed that, in accordance with the order of the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of July 27, 2023, the educational process in grades 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 is organized in accordance with general educational state standards, based on new requirements for subjects and programs.

"Accordingly, the school itself develops its own curriculum," the response says.

The department explained that the norms and provisions of the state standard are mandatory for authorized bodies of general educational institutions of Armenia.

In turn, education expert Serob Khachatryan noted that he does not see any problems with the language. In a conversation with Sputnik Armenia, he explained that changing the name of the subject in the curriculum does not mean removing the subject "Russian language" from the educational program in schools.

"According to the state educational standard, only one foreign language is taught in schools from the second grade, and that is Russian. From the 3rd to the 12th grades, there are two foreign languages, one of which is Russian," Khachatryan said.
According to him, the wording “Foreign Language 1” and “Foreign Language 2” in the curriculum does not mean that schools can remove the Russian language altogether, replacing it with another foreign language.

The expert explains that the state standard is higher than the curriculum, and according to it, the educational discipline "Russian language" is mandatory.

However, the change in the curriculum of the status of Russian as a basic language will allow schools to distribute the hours of teaching the subject themselves. If a general education institution decides to become a narrow specialization in a particular language, it has the right to distribute the hours of teaching one or another language in accordance with its curriculum. However, even here the minimum hours of teaching Russian must be preserved.

"This is an accepted practice: the system gives schools the opportunity to choose. The only thing is that this may lead to a reduction in the hours of language teaching, but not to its removal from the curriculum," he said.

The school also has the right to decide what to devote more time to – studying natural sciences or foreign languages.

News.Az