Thursday, 11 May 2017
Prime Minister: “Education needs substantive structural reforms”
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan.
Before proceeding to the agenda, the Prime Minister gave a number of instructions. Referring to reforms in the education system, he stated in part, “I have repeatedly voiced my conviction that human capital is our chief asset. We need to develop an education system that will provide for adequate training and comprehensive professional development. Our education system should train professionals competitive in the international arena, which in turn will ensure the development of our country. It is obvious that education needs substantive structural reforms in both general, vocational and higher education.”
To this end, the Prime Minister instructed the Minister of Education and Science to submit proposals on school optimization within a 15-day period, taking into account teachers’ workload in order to rule out the practice of second shifts at schools. Within a 2-month period, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Science shall develop a new school funding formula that will ensure transparent, effective and fair distribution of public funds. The Premier gave the stakeholders a month’s time to discuss with the Government Staff the principles and legislative prerequisites for the formation of reserved funds in universities.
Karen Karapetyan issued instructions on implementation of the program of university accreditation. Touching upon the shortfalls in the activities of executive agencies, the Premier gave appropriate instructions. The Head of Government told the heads of government agencies to strictly abide by statutory standards in submitting draft laws for discussion at Cabinet meetings. They will need to strictly adhere to the deadlines set for further elaboration.
The Government allocated funds for the treatment in the Russian Federation of Ashot Grigoryan and Roland Sahakyan who got a bullet wound and a mine injury respectively while performing their military duties at the frontline.
The meeting approved a set of amendments to the law “On alerter system” and other legal acts. The bill is supposed to ensure compliance with the international commitments assumed by the Republic of Armenia in terms of protecting the rights of alerters, which in turn will help apply effective mechanisms to raise public awareness of and intolerance towards corruption.
The Government approved the signing of a technical and economic cooperation agreement with the People’s Republic of China. Under this agreement, China will provide Armenia with another lot of 200 ambulances.
The meeting approved the proposal to sign Amendment 10 to the assistance arrangement between the RA and US governments “On more competitive and diversified private sector.” The amendment provides for an additional allocation of USD 1,442,000, which will be spent on the energy sector.
Money will be allocated to the Ministry of Emergency Situations from the Government’s Reserve Fund to implement a pilot project for introduction of a new missile system of anti-hail protection. The pilot project will be implemented in Aragatsotn and Lori Marzes of Armenia.
Highlighting the implementation of the program, Karen Karapetyan noted, “We pin great hopes on this program. I believe it to be extremely important as it can have a valuable impact on the development of agriculture.”
With the support of the US government, a nearly 900 square meter-wide regional laboratory will be built for the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The Government passed a relevant decision.
