{"id":1583,"date":"2012-02-12T16:32:54","date_gmt":"2012-02-12T16:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am?p=1583"},"modified":"2012-02-16T22:47:03","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T22:47:03","slug":"%d5%b0%d5%a5%d5%bf%d6%84-%d5%a1%d5%b4-%c2%ab%d5%a5%d5%bd-%d5%b9%d5%a5%d5%b4-%d5%b8%d6%82%d5%a6%d5%a5-%d5%ab%d5%b4-%d5%a7%d6%80%d5%a5%d5%ad%d5%a5%d5%b6-6-%d5%bf%d5%b2%d5%b8%d6%82-%d5%b0%d5%a5%d5%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/%d5%b0%d5%a5%d5%bf%d6%84-%d5%a1%d5%b4-%c2%ab%d5%a5%d5%bd-%d5%b9%d5%a5%d5%b4-%d5%b8%d6%82%d5%a6%d5%a5-%d5%ab%d5%b4-%d5%a7%d6%80%d5%a5%d5%ad%d5%a5%d5%b6-6-%d5%bf%d5%b2%d5%b8%d6%82-%d5%b0%d5%a5%d5%bf\/","title":{"rendered":"“I don’t want my girl sitting with 6 boys” …"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Six boys and one girl were to start school this year in the village of Keti, Shirak Marz.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

School Principal Alisa Nikoghosyan and the teaching staff were waiting to greet the new pupils with gifts. All six boys arrived on time for the opening bell, but the girl did not.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Principal Nikoghosyan became concerned and wanted to know what happened to little Haykanoush.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, the mother said that the girl didn\u2019t have any proper clothes for school or notebooks. I told her that we had all the necessary school supplies for Haykanoush and that the girl could wear whatever she had, just as long as didn\u2019t miss classes,\u201d says the principal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nikoghosyan says that the mother then started saying that her husband was in Russia and wouldn\u2019t allow her to take Haykanoush to school since there was a young baby at home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe mother said that the family was preparing to leave Armenia and other excuses. Who knew that the real reason was because Haykanoush was the only girl in the class?\u201d says Principal Nikoghosyan<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The principal told Nara, the girl\u2019s mother, to bring Haykanoush to school anyway so that she could at least learn the alphabet before the family left the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It worked. Haykanoush<\/strong> attended school from September 5 to the 16.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

School teacher Silva Mkrtchyan says that Haykanoush seemed at ease in class. At first, the girl didn\u2019t want to repeat what the boys had said when the class analyzed picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I told her, \u2018see, this is what your classmate said, so now you repeat it\u2019, Haykanoush would refuse. I understood that back home, the girl had been told to keep her distance from the boys. But everything eventually worked out. Haykanoush was very energetic and liked leading classroom activities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Haykanoush didn\u2019t show up at school on September 17, the teacher telephoned the girl\u2019s mother that very evening, asking if the child was sick.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not getting a rational answer, Silva visited the family the next day. Nara told the teacher that her husband in Russia had prohibited her from taking 6 year-old Haykanoush to school because she was the only girl in the first grade class. Nara said that the family would probably send Haykanoush to the school in the village of Hoghmik where her maternal grandparents live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The school administration gave the family some time to make arrangements. When they realized that Nara had no intention of sending Haykanoush to either school, Principal Alisa Nikoghosyan<\/strong> sent a memo to Torgom Sahakyan, the village mayor of Keti, on September 29.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mayor Sahakyan knew about the problem and convened a meeting of the village custodial committee on October 6. Nara Khachatryan, Haykanoush\u2019s mother, also attended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the meeting, Nara couldn\u2019t provide any good reason why she wasn\u2019t taking Haykanoush to school and promised to do so. The committee convened again on October 18 after the girl failed to show up at school once again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This time, Manouk Manoukyan, an attorney from the Department of Child Welfare at the Shirak Regional Governor\u2019s Office, also sat in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The parents were told that by not taking Haykanoush to class they were in violation of Armenian law and that they would be held responsible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On October 28, Village Mayor Sahakyan sent a letter to Akhouryan Police Chief V. Yengoyan and requested his intervention in the mater.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On November 10, Haykanoush’s father, Karlen Sargsyan, who had returned to Keti, was requested to appear at the Akhouryan Police Department. He had a talk with the department\u2019s police official in charge of children\u2019s affairs and was urged to see to it that his daughter attend school. Karlen also had a talk with Manouk Manoukyan from the Shirak Department of Child Welfare and the head of the department.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When this reporter asked Haykanoush if she liked school, the girl shook her head and said, no.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut you only went for two weeks. Was it really that bad?\u201d I asked, trying to find out what exactly the girl didn\u2019t like about school.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it was good,\u201d Haykanoush confessed, looking to her mother for support.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the conversation, both the girl\u2019s parents were present \u2013 Karlen Sargsyan<\/strong> and Nara Khachatryan. Haykanoush bears her mom\u2019s last name.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karlen says it\u2019s because the couple aren\u2019t officially married but have been living together for seven years. Their second daughter is a few months old.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you really feel bad that Haykanoush will have to attend class with six boys, but have no problem with the fact that the girl bears her mother\u2019s last name?\u201d I asked Karlen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not at all. What does a name have to do with it if the child is mine,\u201d he answered. \u201cI have decided that she will not go to school at all this year. She\u2019s my child. When she turns seven, she\u2019ll go next year. What\u2019s the big deal?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karlen went on to say that Haykanoush needed other girls in the class for friends and said it was wrong for the girl to have to spend the next 12 years in a class of only boys.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cLet her go a year late. I\u2019m her father and will have to deal with this issue for the next twelve years. It\u2019s best that she waits another six months, especially since I\u2019ve heard that there will be two other girls starting school then,\u201d argues the father.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Haykanoush\u2019s mom is also annoyed that the state can tell them what to do regarding their daughter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does the government do for my daughter? We are her parents and the ones who take care of her. So they gave us three notebooks. They can take them back. I don\u2019t understand what they want from us. She\u2019ll go to school next year,\u201d Nara says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s parents say they have nothing against the school administration or teacher Silva Mkrtchyan<\/strong>. It comes down to the gender make-up of the class.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t they understand that I just don\u2019t want my daughter in that class, to spend the next 12 years with just boys? I\u2019ve told the wife to teach the girl poems and the alphabet. I\u2019m the father and will not send my Haykoushik to school this year. End of sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yeranuhi Soghoyan, Hetq.am<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Na\/Ne \u00a01-st Award in \u00a0categorie : Online or blog article<\/p>\n

http:\/\/hetq.am\/eng\/articles\/7262\/father-keeps-haykanoush-out-of-1st-grade-i-dont-want-my-girl-sitting-with-6-boys.html<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six boys and one girl were to start school this year in the village of Keti, Shirak Marz.   School Principal Alisa Nikoghosyan and the teaching staff were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,116],"tags":[124],"class_list":["post-1583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-123","category-press","tag-124"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.womennet.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}