Citing a lack of water, Gyumri Mayor Samvel Balasanyan issued a directive on June 10 temporarily closing the Arevik Kindergarten attended by 90 children.

Arevik Director Gayaneh Manoukyan told Hetq that the kindergarten faces three major problems – the roof, water, and the fact that five families are living on kindergarten property.

After the 1988 earthquake, a former children’s hospital was relocated to the kindergarten where it operated for a few years. In the 1990s, the families of physicians resided in a section of the kindergarten building.  They later privatized these premises.

The yard, which has no entry gate, is shared. This doesn’t allow kindergarten management to organize games for the children or to turn it into a playground.

Neighborhood kids also use the space to play and adults drive through it to get to the main street.

Arevik Director Gayaneh Manoukyan

The kindergarten’s flat roof, which caused a major leaking below, has been partially replaced with a slanted one.

But the school’s main problem, water, persists. Director Manoukyan says that a water pipe running under the building was damaged in the 1990s and hasn’t been properly repaired. Over the years, leaking water has undermined the buildings foundations. To stave off future damage, the only option was to shut off the water supply completely.

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Kindergarten employees had been hauling water in buckets for years from an outside spigot. Manoukyan, who was appointed kindergarten director in 2010, says she was able to get one working faucet inside the building.

The director claims that they have never experienced any medical problems associated with the water. The children bring their drinking water from home, in plastic bottles.

The school’s kitchen is now undergoing renovation. The ceiling and walls are getting new plaster and paint. A new water heater and wash basin have been installed.

The toilets have been replaced as well. While much in the kindergarten needs to be repaired and replaced, the Gyumri Municipality has allocated a mere 600,000 AMD (US$1,250) for such work.

“I’ve already spent more than 300,000 dram,” Manoukyan says. “I know we aren’t the only kindergarten in town facing problems. We’re thinking about applying to Caritas or other civic organizations for assistance.”

Director Manukyan is rushing to reopen the kindergarten by August 10. If she doesn’t, she fears that parents will take their children elsewhere.