Another briefing took place at the Yerevan municipality on August 28, headed by first deputy mayor and educational system coordinator Kamo Areyan.
The topic of the briefing was the food served in schools. It was about the food served in schools based on the law on non-trade state organizations and the government’s regulation for serving food produced by some companies. The list includes managing nutrition and the principal is assigned to take control.
“It is forbidden to have any government decision or administrative intervention. The principal of the given school has the right to take care of school nutrition. The principal is obligated to administer the nutrition of students based on taxing requirements and using the territory legally,” said K. Areyan and added that the person in charge will be responsible for maintaining the sanitary/hygienic norms and the quality of food. He also said that the municipality isn’t allowed to mediate of force anything because the principal himself has to do everything and be held responsible. Based on the regulation set by mayor or Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan, the education department of the municipality has prepared a preparatory plan for some functions. Yerevan police have been assigned to guard the streets for the first ten days of the beginning of the school year. The “Electric Networks” of Armenia has been assigned to provide non-stop electricity and beware of any problems. “Yerevan Water” has also been assigned to provide water in containers.
“The health department of the municipality has been assigned to provide school nurse offices with first aid equipment, as well as ensure that the polyclinics check up on the students’ health,” said the deputy mayor. According to K. Areyan, there were 10,873 first-grade students in the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year. As for this year, although admission is still going on, as of last Friday, there are 9081 first-grade students enrolled. The deputy mayor says that there is a problem with homeroom teachers in schools.
35 schools under reconstruction
“We have a major problem on the threshold of the 2006-2007 school year-we have to reconstruct and remodel school buildings with the money from different sources,” said K. Areyan and said that in 2006, 35 schools belonging to the municipality had been reconstructed and remodeled with funding provided by different sources. There are 18 schools that have been remodeled with money from the state-1,216,000,000 AMD. The projects are being implemented based on the time schedules stated in the contracts. The schools that have won in the contest have contracts until August 31 and until late November. The deputy mayor informed that nine schools had already been reconstructed with funding from the state, while there are still nine other schools under reconstruction. The next source for providing funding for schools is investment-132,000,000 AMD for four schools. In fact, individual benefactors have financed the reconstruction of five schools worth 115 million AMD.
“The Yerevan municipality took the initiative and implemented a project with funding provided by the municipality. Whereas last year we were able to reconstruct two schools, this year we have eight schools costing us 314 million AMD. The Yerevan municipality provides funding with the money foreseen for municipal expenses,” said the deputy mayor.