On September 19, at 1:30 pm, there was a chess lesson for fourth graders at P.S. 1 in Martakert, Artsakh. 

Suddenly, explosions could be heard. At first, they thought it was nothing serious, but when the explosions continued, they realized that a war had started.

Fourth grader Maneh Mirzoyan says the teacher ordered everyone to quickly go down to the basement, where they stayed until the evening.

Four days later, they had to leave the city. On September 25, Maneh’s family left Artsakh and came to Armenia.

Maneh is now studying at P.S. 4 in the Armenian town of Masis. Seventy-one pupils from Artsakh were admitted here. Maneh says she misses her friends. After classes, they call each other, talk on the phone, and agree to get together one day.

School Principal Lusine Barseghyan says she didn’t expect to have so many new students, but they accept everyone with open arms. Some classes now have more than forty pupils.

Seven children from Artsakh were admitted to the second grade. Teacher Gayane Balasanyan speaks with some of the children in their Artsakh dialect. Some don’t know literary eastern Armenian and are embarrassed in front of their new classmates. Balasanyan says she wants the other children to understand that speaking a dialect is not a shame.

Gayane Balasanyan was displaced from Martakert during the 1990s Artsakh war and is now reliving it.  

"Now I imagine the condition of the child, their feelings, thoughts. You’d think given their young age they don’t comprehend what’s happened. But no, these deep memories will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Our school, the students accepted all the children well/ Now we all must show that we are on the side of those people. I went through the same thing years ago. I know what it’s like," says Balasanyan.