ArmInfo.Some boarding schools and orphanages will be liquidated in Armenia. At a meeting on October 31, the RA Government decided to liquidate Byureghavan boarding school, Gyumri boarding school N 1, Gyumri Nriesen boarding school N2 and Vanadzor orphanage.
As the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan noted in her speech, the decision of the executive body comes from the government's program to implement reforms in the field of protecting the rights of children. In particular, it is about the realization of their rights to live in their families and the use of alternative methods of custody of children whose families, having found themselves in difficult social conditions, gave their children to boarding schools and orphanages. As of October 1, 2019, there were 260 such children in Armenia, however, as a result of active work, by October 28, this number had dropped to 130. Together with international partners, the state of poor families was assessed, individual state assistance programs were implemented, in September they were provided the necessary material and technical equipment, school supplies, clothing. Until mid-November, winter clothing will also be provided. 30% of families, the minister continued, are already involved in various programs, the rest will also find application in the framework of economic activity programs. As a result of the liquidation of institutions, the saved funds will be directed to expanding assistance networks, and crisis centers will appear in Yerevan, Kapan and Gyumri. The document will enter into force on December 1, 2019, for Gyumri boarding school N2 - on June 25, 2020, and for the Vanadzor orphanage - on January 1, 2020. The government does not abandon its obligations with regard to these children, and will continue to provide assistance to their families. The 2020 draft state budget will triple the amount of funding for day care for this category of children. In total, the program will affect about 300 families and more than three thousand children.
RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that the content is not changing in the form of assistance. Reforms in this area are directed against the isolation of children. The use of concepts in relation to children by an inmate of an orphanage or a boarding school means passing a sentence against them, which will be outside social processes. The state, the prime minister continued, will assist families to meet all necessary standards.