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Sara Petrosyan

The Only Kindergarten in the Akhuryan District Has Been Closed

“When will the kindergarten open?” is the question Yester Khachatryan, a female resident of thevillageofVoghjiin the Shirak Marz, directs to the kindergarten’s founders with more than a hint of reproach in her tone. Yester’s grandchildren used to attend the village kindergarten.

This family that was forcibly evicted from Bakuresettled in this impoverished village straddling the border with Turkeyin conditions utterly lacking the basic minimum requirements. They considered their children fortunate to be able to attend a kindergarten furnished with all the necessary amenities. Mrs. Yester continues that, “They provided everything for the kids - they fed them, taught them, gave them naps and sent them home in the evenings all spruced up and well-fed. Now that the school has closed the kids wander the village alleyways and get lost. I often wind up searching for hours and often find them in the neighboring village.”

The kindergarten closed after the 2007 school year opening celebration. Mrs. Seda Gougounian, a benefactor residing in Tehran, was committed to finance the school’s operation till 2008. The “Kindergarten Fund” has pledged to cover the costs of maintaining the building and any repair expenses but it doesn’t have the estimated $12,000 (4.1 million drams) to cover the school’s annual operating costs.

Months back Shahen Zeytuntsian, President of the “Kindergarten Fund” and Jasmena Arakelyan, the kindergarten’s Principal, were unsuccessful in their attempts to secure the needed funds. According to the laws as defined in Armenia, kindergartens fall under the purview of the local Municipalities and operate with their funding. In October of 2007 the two of them sent a written petition to Lida Nanyan, the Regional Governor of Shirak, requesting financial assistance. At a subsequent meeting the Regional Governor was presented with the financial records of the school and a list of the annual expenses incurred.

Principal Arakelyan states that, “Our petition was endorsed by S. Minasyan, Head of the Regional Center’s Department of Education, who at the meeting proposed that they allocate a subsidy to the Voghji Municipality to be used to cover the costs of the kindergarten. However, we later learned that the Community Mayor declined the offer.” It was later proposed that the kindergarten be turned into a preparatory classroom attached to the local public school. Mrs. Arakelyan says that they couldn’t reach an agreement regarding this proposal since it didn’t solve the issue at hand given that the kindergarten was split into two age groups, the older kids and the younger ones. While this proposal may have been acceptable in the case of the older children, the problem of the younger ones would have remained unresolved.

The village of Voghji was utterly devastated by the 1988 earthquake and was rebuilt by Ukrainian workers. The private homes that were constructed not only housed local residents but also the homeless from other parts of Shirak Marz as well as Armenian families evicted from Azerbaijan. The Ukrainian workers built homes in the village but apart from the one public school they failed to construct any other cultural, educational or other service structures needed to transform the village into an actual residential community.

It was in September of 2003 that the London-based “Friends of Armenia” foundation opened the kindergarten in Voghji. It was Seda Gougounian, a Tehran resident, who donated the necessary funds to build the kindergarten, named in honor of her prematurely deceased brother Henrik Gougounian.  The founders had purchased one of the village homes to house the kindergarten that they proceeded to renovate, enlarge and furnish to such high standards that a comparable kindergarten is not to be found even in Yerevan. The children were even sent home in the evenings after taking a shower since the kindergarten was supplied with running hot and cold water round the clock while local residents were forced to ferry water home from the village’s only working faucet. In addition to the comfortable playrooms, the children enjoyed the luxury of having summer and wintertime dining areas, an open-air playground and other amenities.

Contrary to other communities inArmenia, where kindergartens operate seasonally, opening in May and closing in November, the Voghji kindergarten was able to function year-round for the past five years due to the buildings central heating system.

The founders spared no effort to rear the children with Armenian-based values, to develop their creative faculties through arts and crafts, painting and music classes and to provide adequate recreational time. The kindergarten satisfied the balanced nutritional needs of the children as well. Vegetables were supplied from the school’s own pantry and many parents provided homegrown foodstuffs in lieu of the monthly 1,500 tuition fee. Principal Arakelyan explained that, “We fed the kids only fresh dairy and vegetables and meals were provided thrice daily. We also celebrated the children’s birthdays in addition in other festivities.”

The aim of the founders in establishing the kindergarten in Voghji was to transform it into a cradle of learning and instruction for all the children of the surrounding five villages. Principal Arakelyan noted that, “At one time 22 children attended the kindergarten which dropped to 15 at the end. Applications to accept 10 children form the neighboring village of Vardaghbyur had to be turned down due to budgetary constraints. Children from the neighboring villages of Haykavan and Meghrashat, which lack their own kindergarten, were brought here as well.”

Everyone in the village of Voghji impatiently awaits the reopening of the kindergarten, especially the children. Little Meline, whose 3rd birthday was being celebrated the day we visited the village, said that, “I want to go to kindergarten class.” All the other young children at Meline’s birthday party eagerly started to show-off the songs and poems they had learned at the kindergarten. 

Red, blue, apricot,
We say - an end to life without color,
With our songs happy and warm,
We’ll live under peaceful skies...

 It would be difficult to explain to these children, who live with the dream of putting an end to life without color, that the little amount of money needed to make their dream a reality is quite a hefty sum for either the Shirak Regional Council or the Armenian government to pry loose from their money-bags.

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