4 students will go to school in Zarishat
A large part of rural communities of Shirak region face problems. The main problems are in the northern bordering villages which are cut off from the center of the region due to the bad roads and one of those rural communities is Zarishat.
Before the Artsakh movement, there were nearly 150 families living in Zarishat. After 1988, the Azeri left the village, as well as most of the Armenians and now there are only 15 families. The villagers are mainly involved in cattle-raising. They have signed a contract with dairy-producing companies and receive more or less stable income. Villagers consider farming as nonsensical.
"It is impossible to farm here. It is fruitless. Nothing is grown on time due to the cold weather."
There is no irrigation water here either. Residents of Zarishat use the artesian waters for drinking and the household. There is no heating system and they use cow dung to heat the homes in the winter and heat food during the other seasons.
The village is 45 kilometers away from Gyumri, but they make it there as long as it takes one to go from Gyumri to Yerevan due to the bad roads.
Despite all that, the villagers don't complain too much about their lives. The only thing is that there hasn't been a rise in the number of families in the past year. Although there are young families, there are not many children and only four children who will attend school in September.
The school has two classrooms and there are three teachers. Principal Alvard Shaghoyan mentions that no expert will come to the village for one or two hours.
The roof of the school building has been damaged due to heavy winds and hail in the past couple of months and the classrooms are humid. The school has received necessary construction materials for repair and construction will start as soon as the weather gets better.
Gyumri
"Tsaig" TV
