Amended Law on Language to protect Armenia from estrangement - parliament speaker

The proposed amendments to the Law on Language will help Armenia to protect itself from assimilation and estrangement, speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan told today the parliament's extraordinary session devoted to the discussion of the amendments to the laws on language and public education.

"I am convinced that by adopting the amended law, we'll be able to preserve our national identity, avoiding the risk of assimilation and estrangement, as well as adopt a more flexible policy complying with the best international educational programs," he said.

Abrahamyan stressed that alternative and international education programs will be based solely upon Armenian language thinking, and that the Armenian language and Armenological subjects will be mandatory for all public schools.

Speaking of the amendments to the law on public education, Stepan Safaryan of the opposition Heritage party faction in parliament said yesterday's decision to hold a second reading over the bill was in breach of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly.

"We started the second reading without even conducting the first. Heritage faction proposes not to hold a voting," he said.

Responding to the opposition MP, speaker Abrahamyan said there was no violation of the rules of procedure. After a short debate, the changes discussed at the first reading were approved.

The proposed amendments to the law on public education required that different concepts be established for four types of school curricula.