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 waiting to greet the new pupils with gifts. All six boys arrived on time for the opening bell, but the girl did not.

Principal Nikoghosyan became concerned and wanted to know what happened to little Haykanoush.

“At first, the mother said that the girl didn’t 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’t miss classes,” says the principal.

Nikoghosyan says that the mother then started saying that her husband was in Russia and wouldn’t allow her to take Haykanoush to school since there was a young baby at home.

“The 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?” says Principal Nikoghosyan

The principal told Nara, the girl’s mother, to bring Haykanoush to school anyway so that she could at least learn the alphabet before the family left the country.

It worked. Haykanoush attended school from September 5 to the 16.

School teacher Silva Mkrtchyan says that Haykanoush seemed at ease in class. At first, the girl didn’t want to repeat what the boys had said when the class analyzed picture.

“When I told her, ‘see, this is what your classmate said, so now you repeat it’, 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.

When Haykanoush didn’t show up at school on September 17, the teacher telephoned the girl’s mother that very evening, asking if the child was sick.

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.

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 sent a memo to Torgom Sahakyan, the village mayor of Keti, on September 29.

Mayor Sahakyan knew about the problem and convened a meeting of the village custodial committee on October 6. Nara Khachatryan, Haykanoush’s mother, also attended.

During the meeting, Nara couldn’t provide any good reason why she wasn’t 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.

This time, Manouk Manoukyan, an attorney from the Department of Child Welfare at the Shirak Regional Governor’s Office, also sat in.

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.

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

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’s police official in charge of children’s 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.

When this reporter asked Haykanoush if she liked school, the girl shook her head and said, no.

“But you only went for two weeks. Was it really that bad?” I asked, trying to find out what exactly the girl didn’t like about school.

“No, it was good,” Haykanoush confessed, looking to her mother for support.

During the conversation, both the girl’s parents were present – Karlen Sargsyan and Nara Khachatryan. Haykanoush bears her mom’s last name.

Karlen says it’s because the couple aren’t officially married but have been living together for seven years. Their second daughter is a few months old.

“So, 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’s last name?” I asked Karlen.

“No, not at all. What does a name have to do with it if the child is mine,” he answered. “I have decided that she will not go to school at all this year. She’s my child. When she turns seven, she’ll go next year. What’s the big deal?”

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.

“Let her go a year late. I’m her father and will have to deal with this issue for the next twelve years. It’s best that she waits another six months, especially since I’ve heard that there will be two other girls starting school then,” argues the father.

Haykanoush’s mom is also annoyed that the state can tell them what to do regarding their daughter.

“What 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’t understand what they want from us. She’ll go to school next year,” Nara says.

The girl’s parents say they have nothing against the school administration or teacher Silva Mkrtchyan. It comes down to the gender make-up of the class.

“Why don’t they understand that I just don’t want my daughter in that class, to spend the next 12 years with just boys? I’ve told the wife to teach the girl poems and the alphabet. I’m the father and will not send my Haykoushik to school this year. End of sentence.”