Some Armenian schools have 7-8 pupils
The school of Verin Ptghni village, Kotayk Marz, has 87 pupils. Second- and third-formers have joint lessons as the number of pupils totals nine.
The school principal says the lessons are held on equal footing with the teacher concentrating on each pupil separately.
"How can a specialist teach second- and third-formers at a time if the curriculum is different?" wonders Armine Poghosian, the parent of one of the third-formers.
Many parents think of transferring their children to other schools.
"If the issue is left unaddressed the school will soon be dissolved," say parents.
Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotian shares their concerns at the same time he dispels the rumours about dissolution.
"There are many schools facing the same problem in the republic. The phenomenon is common in less populated settlements where some schools have only 7-8 pupils.
The Ministry needs time to handle the problem. Firstly, we must allocate transport vehicles to take children from small settlements to the nearby general school. Besides, some schools need urgent repair which the Ministry cannot afford now. Therefore, we had better fix a base school in one of the villages to host all children from nearby settlements," said the Minister.
Asked how the teacher manages to deal with pupils of different age groups, Mr. Ashotian said: "As there are few pupils in the class the teacher is able to give lessons to both classes. Moreover, the teacher focuses on each child which is not the case with larger classes."
Naira Hakobian, third-year student of Yerevan State Pedagogical University
