Prime Minister Karen Karapetian insisted on Thursday that he did not order a controversial government initiative to step up the teaching of the Russian language in Armenia’s schools.
In a policy “concept” posted on a government website on September 11, the Armenian Education Ministry stressed the economic, cultural, scientific and even “geopolitical” importance of “popularizing Russian” in the country. It said it will therefore strive to improve the quality of mandatory Russian language classes in public schools.
The ministry also said that it was instructed by the Armenian prime minister to draw up the concept.
Karapetian, who lived and worked in Russia from 2011-2016, denied that. “There was no directive regarding the Russian language,” he told reporters.
“I’ve made it very clear: there was no such directive,” the premier added when pressed by them.
The ministry initiative has prompted strong criticism from independent media commentators and some prominent public figures who consider it as a threat to the status of Armenian as the country’s sole official language. Some of them have also accused Russia of seeking to further deepen its influence on Armenia.
Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian has dismissed the criticism, arguing that good knowledge of foreign languages is important for young Armenians. Critics counter that his ministry’s policy paper refers only to Russian.
The Russian parliament speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, caused a stir in Yerevan in July when he suggested that Armenia adopt Russian as its second official language in order to make Armenian driving licenses fully valid in Russia. Armenian officials were quick to reject the idea.
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