The children occupied the chair of the National Assembly

Today, on the occasion of World Children’s Day, all speakers of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia were provided to children. Thus, the legislative body of Armenia joined UNICEF’s global initiative to provide children with microphone for one day. What were the messages that teenagers spoke from today’s country’s main political podium, what did they want to hear from adults? Each of the participants voiced one issue …

Mane Mheryan:

“647 children live in orphanages in Armenia, of which 400 have disabilities” …

“Because of the difficult social conditions of the family, children should not be in institutions such as boarding schools for mentally handicapped children. Unfortunately, there are many such cases at present, many children have to live away from their families, in orphanages or boarding schools, lacking parental love and warmth. According to official data of 2017, 647 children live in orphanages, of which 400 have disabilities. There are 465 children living in boarding schools, and the number of children in special schools has gone up to 2000, of which almost 1,500 have no disability. And the interesting thing is that 90% of children living in institutions have at least one parent”.

Samvel Khachikyan:

 “Only 28.7% of children aged 0-5 attend kindergarten in Armenia …”

“What is the connection between trees and children? It seems, not one, but everyone knows that no tree is lukewarm and beautiful from the very beginning. To achieve this, you first need to plant a tree, water it and take care to give everything you need to grow. Years later, when the tree has strong roots, it can grow even without special care. The same applies to children. From the day they were born, they need to be taken care, to have everything they need for good growth. Only in their case there is a big difference, besides, children need a very good education. Only 28.7% of Armenian children aged 0-5 attend kindergarten, and only 17.2% of rural communities. These are very small figures, but it is more regrettable that even in 80 rural communities there is no kindergarten, and there are 190 but they do not work. It turns out that because of the lack of conditions, many children remain free from education, and that’s a blow to their future”.

Full text in Armenian