Education Minister Chides Dashnaks Over Corruption Claims
In what can perhaps be taken as a sign of pending internal conflict in the ruling “coalition” government during the October local elections, RFE/RL’s Armenia Service reports that friction is increasing between the two junior members of the cabinet, Orinats Yerkir and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyun.
Education Minister Sergo Yeritsian took a swipe Thursday at the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), one of three parties represented in his government, over its allegations that Armenia’s system of higher education is rife with corruption.
Yeritsian indicated that the education sector was no less corrupt when it was run by Dashnaktsutyun until his appointment as education minister almost two years ago.
Interestingly, this is at the time when reforms are underway in neighboring Georgia which Katy logged about earlier this week. The full report by RFE/RL can be read online here.
I would love to see some real discussion of the edu system in Armenia.
Every day I spend some time talking about education with teenagers from Eurasia. The things that these kids say often shock me.
What is interesting is hearing them compare/contrast the edu system in the U.S. with that of their home countries. They do a nice job of discussing things as not good or bad, just different.
Comment by Katy — 5/12/2005 @ 7:49 pm
The whole system has to be changed. As it stands now, there are a lot of incentives for corruption to exist. There is a lot of demand to get into these universities but not a lot of supply. There should be ways to either reduce the demand, or increase the supply.
If an institution cares about/is held accountable its student body, they will not accept dumbasses being in their classrooms.
And why do the dumbasses want to be in the universities anyway? If the reasons are removed then they may not want to be there.
Also, if there are choices to get an education, if one institution demands money for admission, you just raise the middle finger and go somewhere else.
Comment by Nazarian — 5/12/2005 @ 8:05 pm
If AUA was an undergraduate university, I think that positive changes could be seen. Kyrgyzstan has an American University for undergrads which has produced some amazing results. Some of my former exchange students attend there and they are continuing to progress in their skill sets and views that democracy can work.
Comment by Katy — 5/12/2005 @ 8:08 pm