Interview with Ashot Bleyan, founder and principal of Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex 

Mr. Bleyan, Russian TV commentator Dmitri Kiselyov reproached Armenian deputies in a reprimanding tone at the National Assembly by saying that the Russian language is retreating in Armenia and asked them what they were doing to prevent that process. He also suggested increasing the number of Russian language schools in Armenia and granting a special status to the Russian language. What is the cause of this? Is it simply a tactless behavior or are we reaping the fruits of September 3? 

You are asking rhetorical questions, as we all know the answers to them. Before Armenia’s independence Russian was considered to be the language of our great country, the USSR, and people haven’t forgotten it. And there isn’t any difference whether it has been raised by Kiselyov or somebody else, as the problem is within us, our authorities, our way of thinking, our subjection to Russia, and tending to explain our misfortunes by not knowing Russian well enough. That can be understood because they want the key objective of our school to be the satisfaction of emigrants’ needs. If someone has decided to leave Armenia, he bears in mind the objective of a migrant, saying “teach me Russian”, and for him such categories as citizenship, patriotism and the ability to take care of Armenia, farming its land  is no longer important. So the key objective of the Armenian school is pushed behind, whereas meeting migrant workers’ needs is viewed as primary.         

Mr. Bleyan, Kiselyov was also insulted that a taxi driver in Yerevan hadn’t been able to utter the fee in Russian.

Well, the fact itself is not serious when a Kiselyov comes to the National Assembly and allows himself to make such a pronouncement. As far as I know, MP Nikol Pashinyan has demanded to declare that man persona non grata. I completely agree that when they interfere with our domestic affairs in such an ugly way, it is the duty of the government to give an adequate response. What are the authorities and state for? Let Kiselyov speak English to the driver, let him speak in a non-verbal language, such things can happen every day but who is Kiselyov to make such a declaration and go without a response? The authority is supposed to give a proper answer to that. There is nothing to consider here.              

As for the so called Russian schools, unfortunately there are 42 such schools in Armenia 18 out of which are in Yerevan. These schools have been established and are working now despite the Armenian Constitution and the laws “About the Language” and “About Public Education”. These schools would not have existed according to the laws. Why should we have Russian schools in Armenia? Who are they for? There should be such schools, and there are some in the villages with a tight-knot Russian community. Who is studying at 18 Russian schools in Yerevan? There cannot be a public school in Armenia where teaching is not in our mother tongue. Our key objective should be our mother tongue because we think and develop through it and we have created our country to speak our mother tongue through our existence. 

The key objective of our society and family is to speak our mother tongue, and the school is the best place for that. That should be the main concern of our country and at all the levels of the government, it is not only the priority of the Ministry of Education and Science. The level of teaching of all the school subjects is miserably poor. Those are o school subjects on which a lot of academic hours are spent and which are not aimed at children, are not aimed at public education. Musical education is in misery too. Had we had musical public education, would there by such lack of taste reigning in Armenia? Of course, not! Is math aimed at developing thinking? Of course, not! There are only some subjects and some marks. And among all these subjects the most unprotected one is the mother tongue because it has become artificial, lifeless and is humiliated by the Russian and English. This should be our concern. The mother tongue should be alive, developing and stimulating thought.

At our public schools Russian is taught from Grade 2 through Grade 12, and there is a final exam at Grades 9 and 12; there are hundreds of schools where Russian is primary. Is Russian a problem in Armenia? People go to Russia and learn to speak the language but is it the problem of the authorities of RA or Armenian school? Of course, not!           

Is this, actually, aimed at further humiliating Armenia and reinforcing their dominance?

Figuratively speaking, it means that the Red Army is already in Yerevan. It seemed that we had got rid of neo-bolshevism and chauvinism over 25 years of our independence. We should have freely and straightly dealing with the problems of our children. For example, how many children in Armenia are given the opportunity to swim on hot summer days? How many educational camps are there, how many clubs? What do children study, of course in mother tongue, during the three months in summer? Education in a foreign language is generally a fictitious thing. When they say: “School, do not do your main duty, the child’s development. Take up this problem,” it is chauvinism; no matter it is Russian chauvinism or American. Is it the problem and key objective of the Armenian school? So is that our achievement that Kiselyov should come and set a problem for the Armenian society and educational system? That is a matter of elementary self-dignity.

Our public education has a lot of problems, but they don’t have any connection with Kiselyov and the country he represents. If Armenia were a normal developing country, the foreign language here should be, for example English, and Kiselyov should have spoken to the taxi driver in English. I suppose he speaks English, and if he doesn’t speak, he should learn. But now it turns out that Russian is a mandatory foreign language. I understand that there exists a problem of effectiveness of teaching foreign languages, and English is one of them. To cope with this problem, new methods should be introduced, individualization of the teaching process should be ensured; the child should be given an opportunity to use what he/she has learned, to travel. Imagine our children travelling and communicating a lot. They would naturally learn foreign languages more easily: English, German, French and so on. Why don’t we take up the languages of our neighboring countries more seriously? Why are Spanish, French, and German left out? On the other hand Russian is more than thoroughly presented at Armenian schools. But it may not satisfy Kiselyov; we have given away everything we had, and still they are not satisfied. What else shall we give? We have nothing else to give.        

They say that still in the time of 1988 movement a Russian official called Trapeznikov by name, arrived in Armenia, who presented himself as a friend of Armenians and urged Armenians to abandon their language which might be a good stimulus for the Armenians in the matter of Karabagh, in terms of their possible support. Can we say that history repeats?

I think that we should focus on what we should do and on what we haven’t done. Armenia is a mono-ethnic country where 98% of the population is Armenian, and in this case the language of public education, the language of schools and nursery schools should be Armenian.  

So, if that matter had been set down initially, if they hadn’t allowed the illegal existence of 42 Russian schools, the problem would have been resolved. After that they would consider the question of foreign languages like other school subjects and Russian would be one of them. Now you are mentioning the name of a Trapeznikov, as if I should come to attention. I know neither Trapeznikov, nor Kiselyov, furthermore, I don’t want to know any of them. Now I don’t watch Russian TV channels; I can’t stand Russian pop or the thing called show, because we know what hostility drips out of Russian TV channels. Hate speech is prohibited in Armenia but it is being broadcast against Ukrainians and Americans. Should Russians dictate us? Haven’t we finished with it? What was our independence of 1991 for? What country did we found in 1991? The question is within us: shall we give away the Republic of Armenia or not? I say NEVER! — See more at: http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/32603#sthash.gA2gZ3qS.dpuf