YEREVAN, JULY 30, ARMENPRESS. The City Hall of Yerevan is transferring nearly 300 students from three special schools under its jurisdiction to public ones.

Yerevan City Hall Director of Public Education Department Anna Stepanyan told a press conference on July 30 that the special schools will soon be re-organized into support centers.

“We still have a lot to do, but I can already confidently say that Yerevan is ready to completely transfer to inclusive education,” she said. “Inclusive education has been carried out for many years in 54 of Yerevan’s 155 schools. Today, these schools already have much experience. We began the process from last year when the government passed the decision”.

According to the City Hall official this year they are focused on training the teachers, as well as support from parents.

She said training courses have been organized in 65 schools of Yerevan sponsored by the Bridge of Hope organization.  Armenia’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arayik Harutyunyan had earlier announced that the city of Yerevan and the provinces of Shirak and Aragatsotn will shift to universal inclusive education starting from September 2019. In 2018, the province of Shirak had introduced inclusive education.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan