New history textbook quite good - premier

ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan considers the new textbook "History of Armenia" for the 7th grade to be quite successful. He stated this on his Facebook account. 

According to the Prime Minister, back in April he promised to  familiarize himself with the contents of the textbook, but was able to do so only now, when he is under quarantine caused by COVID. "I am not an expert in history and will not go into details, but in general, I consider the textbook to be successful in the sense that it invites children to take a critical approach to historical events, which is sorely lacking in our reality. Children can evaluate events and perceive them in a playful way," Pashinyan said.

He emphasized that after reading the textbook, he was convinced that this subject should be called "History of Armenia", in connection with which the government has already made a decision. "The role of the name is essential in terms of maximum compliance with the state interests of the Republic of Armenia," Pashinyan said.

The textbook has caused a sharply negative reaction from a number of experts, politicians and the Armenian Apostolic Church. In particular, they were outraged by the fact that the textbook marks Artsakh as part of the borders of Azerbaijan, although it describes historical events from the time of King Tigran the Great. The Armenian Apostolic Church demanded that this textbook be removed from the school curriculum, since conceptual, methodological and scientific errors and omissions were found in it. The textbook was also criticized by the scientific community, represented by the Director of the Institute of History of Armenia, the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of  Armenia (NAS RA), Acting Director of the Institute of Oriental  Studies of the NAS RA, the Head of the Department of History of Armenia at Yerevan State University, the Pedagogical University named after Kh. Abovyan, the Association of Young Historians and other authoritative scientists, who, citing the results of the examination, called on the relevant department (MONKS) to remove the textbook on the history of Armenia for grades 7 from the school curriculum. The study noted that the textbook for the 7th grade "History of Armenia", compiled by Smbat Hovhannisyan, contains complex problems of conceptual, methodological, scientific, educational, pedagogical, technical nature, etc. Historians noted that a history textbook cannot be written by one person, and should be compiled by a group of experts specializing in different historical periods. They also stated that hypothetical approaches prevail in the text of the textbook, while the latter should be based on irrefutable facts.