YSU Faculty of Armenian Philology Students go on strike and launch petition

Students of the Faculty of Armenian Philology of the Yerevan State University are on strike in protest of a bill which envisages scrapping the Armenian Language, Armenian History and Armenian Literature subjects from the mandatory curriculum and making it optional for students. The bill is authored by the education ministry.

“This is simply a warning campaign”, said Gevorg Gyulumyan, a student of the faculty who is also among the organizers of the strike.

“Let the ministry consider this a warning. I advise the minister to consult with experts before making this kind of decisions,” he said.

Yerevan State University spokesperson Gevorg Emin-Teryan said he has no detailed information about the students strike at this moment.

He said they can give an exact number of striking students only after classes end. He said there are unconfirmed reports that several lecturers have joined the strike.

Faculty of Philology Dean Artsrun Hovhannisyan declined to comment at the moment.

Samvel Yeghiazaryan, the President of the Students Academic Association of the Faculty of Armenian Philology, said they are initiating a petition to apply to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Armen Sarkissian and Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan. “We will attack the signatures to the open letter. Nearly 700 students have joined the petition at this moment,” he said. According to him all students of the Faculty of Philology are petitioning.