by AGBU News
The Mkhitar Sepastia School on the outskirts of Yerevan is a fine example of democracy on the move. Creative arts, computers, a video studio, colorful murals on the walls and the smiling faces of children give confidence that the educational system in Armenia can develop a new energized generation.
Ashod Bleyian, Hratch Krikorian and Ashod Manoucherian have been the driving force in this effort to set a role model for thousands of other schools in Armenia. Located between Yerevan and Etchmiadzin in an area nicknamed "Bangladesh" for its dozens of Soviet style "grim" high-rise apartments, 1,000 students in two shifts, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., attend daily.
Every school in Armenia today is overcrowded, often forty in a class. Some schools even operate on three shifts. The recent economic downturn has slashed budgets providing money only for salaries. Renovation is out of the question and the costs of printing the needed hundreds of thousands new textbooks, eliminating the Communist propaganda, prohibitive.
Determined to move forward, Principal Ashod Bleyian and his staff are printing trial textbooks on their computers, assessing the qualifications of each book as they are tested in class. The search for publishing equipment is the first priority on their list of critical needs.
