Ministry denies plans to close Margaryan school

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports said reports about the closure of the secondary school named after Gurgen Margaryan in Artamet do not correspond to reality, according to Factor.am .

The ministry stated that no government draft decision regarding school mergers is currently being circulated.

“At the same time, we would like to note that new schools and educational complexes are being built for our children,” the ministry emphasized.

Earlier, reports about the possible closure of the Gurgen Margaryan secondary school in Artamet had circulated widely online. Narek Karapetyan, who heads the electoral list of the Strong Armenia alliance, also wrote on Facebook that “Civil Contract is closing the school named after Gurgen Margaryan.”

Artamet administrative head Gor Ghazaryan had also stated that the school would continue operating. According to him, residents reviewed a list published by the ministry of schools proposed for consolidation, which included the Artamet school.

“After seeing that, we appealed to various institutions, including the Prime Minister’s Office. The letter was addressed to the Armavir governor’s office, and about a month ago, we received a clear response that the village school would not be closed. The village is small, with 35 students, including two preschool children. They wanted to merge it with the school in Vanand, where a new school is being built, and children from Artamet were supposed to study there. In response to a letter sent by residents, we were assured about a month ago that no merger would take place,” Ghazaryan said.

According to the administrative head, the issue of renaming the school was never discussed.

On February 19, 2004, in Budapest, Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov killed Armenian Armed Forces officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe while he was asleep. The two officers were participating in English-language courses in the Hungarian capital under a NATO program. A Hungarian court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment without parole for the first 30 years, but on August 31, 2012, Hungary extradited him to Azerbaijan. He was immediately pardoned and celebrated as a hero in Baku. In response, Armenia severed diplomatic relations with Hungary, which were restored only 10 years later.