Armenia`s government launches pilot programme for nurseries 

ArmInfo. The RA government promises to make nursery services more accessible. By the decision of January 30, the Cabinet of Ministers made certain changes to the procedure for admitting children to the first level of the  educational system.

As stated by the RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and  Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, currently more than 82 thousand children  aged 3 to 5 attend preschool institutions in Armenia. This is about  75% of children in this age group. In 2022, the figure was 63.6%.

At the same time, the most problematic issue today is ensuring the  availability of nursery services - this requires both an expansion of  the range of services and a revision of the age limit for admitting  children to nurseries.

In this regard, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and  Sports proposes changes to the procedure for financing preschool  institutions. Thus, a pilot program for about 200 pupils (10 groups)  of the nursery will be implemented in a number of communities of the  country.

In particular, the pilot program will be implemented in 4  institutions in Yerevan, one of which will implement an educational  program for children aged 6 to 12 months. The pilot will also be  implemented in 4 preschool institutions in Vanadzor and Gyumri and in  one institution in Hrazdan (for children aged one year).

The program will be in effect from April 1, 2025 to December 31,  2026. The budget will be 175,140,000 drams, depending on the number  of groups and students in them. The justification also emphasizes  that the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is currently  implementing a process aimed at introducing a new family  vulnerability assessment system, which will make social assistance  policies more targeted and effective. 

Based on the data obtained, with the help of the improved system, the  organization of the process of receiving free preschool education for  children from beneficiary families at the expense of the state budget  will be more targeted. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, noted  the social component of the program, since this is a huge help to  working mothers and an opportunity to return to work from maternity  leave earlier.