Thursday, 7 July 2016
PM Issues Instructions on Education and Procurement Reform
A regular Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.
Before proceeding to the agenda, the Prime Minister pointed out the problems of the education sector and gave relevant instructions to the Minister of Education and Science.
“The examination processes are evidencing that the reform of the educational system is more than requested: education quality and efficiency appear to be top priorities at all levels of the educational system, their harmonization with international standards, as well as ensuring accessibility for all segments of the population.
It seems to be obvious that the system of public education needs revising. It is necessary to create modernized, widely accessible, competitive and, at the same time, Armenian identity-oriented academic programs by reconsidering the applicable legislative framework.
The selection of school directors – from certification to appointment should represent a simple and transparent process. We also need to reform the activities of school management councils and the system of school funding, including the problems of high school. There are many issues accumulated in the system of vocational education. I also want to emphasize the inevitability of reform of universities. It is necessary to pay special attention to the use of more effective mechanisms of formation and functioning of the administration councils.
We need to revise and improve the institutions which provide the school-university transition. This process should be implemented more smoothly in order to help increase access to higher education and the inclusion of vulnerable groups in society.
The Ministry of Education and Science should focus on the efficiency of higher education. The strengthening of university-labor market liaison and the protection of critical fields for the development of our country should be the most important features of the mission of universities.
Based on the foregoing, I am instructing the Minister of Education and Science to prepare for consultations over the problems of public education and recommendations derived from these schedule changes on higher education reform, outlining clear mechanisms on the mechanisms of education quality improvement,” the Prime Minister said.
Then Hovik Abrahamyan touched upon the procurement process. “To minimize corruption risks in the procurement process on May 26 I instructed the Ministry of Finance to improve the transparency of the procurement process at various stages, enabling any interested person to see the progress in contract enforcement on the website of e-procurements, as well as develop a software that would allow any individual to draft their own statements by choosing the relevant parameters on the e-procurement website.
A procurement reporting module had been developed by the Ministry of Finance which as available to the public at large (www.armeps.am/ppcm)m has been commissioned by government agencies since on July 1, while towns will join it from this September 1. In order to ensure full implementation of this system, all beneficiaries ought to actively participate in this system. In this regard, I am urging all State agencies and interested parties to actively use this new instrument and submit proposals to the Ministry of Finance on its improvement.
In addition, it is important to raise the efficiency of procurement processes, providing an essential condition for identification of problems in purchases by the customers themselves. A relevant toolkit is provided in the legislation. It is the internal audit system which has just been introduced in the public system. The legislation governing the sector stipulates that both the procurement and contract enforcement procedures are subject to mandatory audit. Thus, this issue needs to be addressed in the next step of the procurement process.
I am hereby instructing the heads of government agencies to exercise strict control over the internal audit system, as well as to post on their websites reports prepared by the internal audit on procurement procedures and reports for review in the elimination of those problems.”
Back from Georgia, Minister of Transport and Communication Gagik Beglaryan informed the Prime Minister about the situation in Upper Lars.
The Minister said that starting today vehicles will be crossing the Upper Lars checkpoint in the daytime, while 4-5 days later they can enjoy a 24-hour regime. According Mr. Beglaryan, some risks are still available. Currently there is nearly 5 million tons of soil on the mountains flow.
“It is being planned to build an surface tunnel on the road, which calls for a large amount of money. As a matter of fact, this road section will always be dangerous for us. After heavy rains we may face the same problems,” the Minister said and urged businesses to take into account the possibility of using the ferryboat in organizing their activities.
The Government amended its April 21, 2016 decision “On procedures and conditions for allocation of funds for treatment, travel and accommodation of injured soldiers outside the Republic of Armenia.” The amendment provides that the Government shall fully compensate not only the treatment, travel and accommodation costs for injured soldiers, but also the travel and accommodation costs for the accompanying person.
The Government amended a previous decision to clarify the national qualifications framework and their generalized characteristics. As a result, the national qualifications will be comparable to the ones applicable within the European Higher Education Area, as well as ensuring recognition of qualifications awarded and expanded mobility.
The Cabinet approved the 2017-2019 medium-term expenditure program aimed at improving the effectiveness of public expenditure management system. The 2017-2019 MTEF program will serve as a basis for the development of the 2017 draft State budget.
Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan touched upon the abuses recorded in the vacation component of welfare packages and tasked the responsible agencies to elaborate the vacation component in order to minimize the risk of potential abuses and submit to the Government for consideration. In the meantime, the vacation component will be temporarily suspended pending the Government’s approval.
In conclusion, the meeting endorsed the proposal to sign an agreement on cultural cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Republic of Malta.
