Building Hosts Village Weddings and Playground Even in the dead of winter, pupils at the Vardenis village school in Aragatzotn have a place to play football. The cold winds blowing through the broken windows of the gymnasium and the thick dust rising up from its crumbling floor doesn’t seem to bother the kids though. Sometimes, the pupils have to make way so that the gym can be used as a wedding hall for newlyweds and their guests. Since the village has no banquet facilities, the gym is the most convenient space around. 129 pupils attend classes in unsafe school Vardenis is located five kilometers south of the regional capital of Aparan. 129 pupils attend the village school. The school’s basement is flooded during the spring thaw. During the school’s thirty year history, no repairs have been made to the building. Ever since the 1988 earthquake, it’s been structurally unsound. Plans were drafted to repair the damage but that was all forgotten when the Soviet Union collapsed. Rouzan Makaryan, the school administrator, says that nobody really shows any interest in the fate of the school. “The school board always requests that the issue be brought to the attention of the government. The principle assures us that it has but we haven’t seen any tangible results.” When we visited the school, the principle wasn’t in the village to talk to. Former parliament speaker Torosyan hails from Vardenis We asked if there weren’t any wealth benefactors in the village willing to help. Mrs. Makaryan said that former National Assembly President Tigran Torosyan was the only official from the town and that he’s never publicly admitted that his roots are in Vardenis. She added that Mr. Torosyan has never offered any assistance. When we spoke to a group of men at the village social club about their community’s problems, the first thing they mentioned was the school. “There are no floorboards. They just laid down some sand. We celebrate all the weddings, baptisms and army parties at the school. What else can we do?” asked Artur Grigoryan. “Do you think a bride who holds a wedding there will have kids?” joked a guy in the crowd. One of the school’s outer walls is covered in glass and a large portion is broken. Two liters of fuel per day is consumed to heat the classrooms, but on a very windy day even the burner doesn’t work. “The kids come home frozen to the bone or covered in soot,” says Vardenis Mayor Kamo Petrosyan. Winter winds blow through broken school windows Mayor Petrosyan says that the village is partially supplied with natural gas. He points out, however, that even if the entire village was serviced, gas couldn’t be supplied to the school due to structural problems. He said that it’s amazing that the government has decreed that classrooms maintain a temperature of 18 degrees to prevent flu outbreaks. “How the heck can we maintain an 18 degree minimum with no windows? How can you heat such large rooms with 2-3 liters,” he asks. The school’s drainage system has been out of order for years and there are no toilet facilities. For the past four years, pupils have been using   the bathrooms of neighboring residents. Now, a wooden outhouse has been built for the kids. Pupils of the first seven grades are housed in the school. Administrator Makaryan boasted that there will be nine pupils in next year’s first grade class. “I am concerned that this number will drop the following year because young people are leaving the village. I’d venture to say that half of Vardenis is now to be found in Russia or Yerevan,” she says and points to the condition of the school as one of the reasons. There’s an excess of professionals at the school, rather than a shortage. The administrator assured us that the level of education at the school is high, regardless of the difficulties faced and the fact that teachers do not receive a “hardship allowance” for working in a mountainous zone. “Compared to neighboring villages, Vardenis lies in a hollow. They get the allowance in Mulki and Chknagh, not us,” says Mrs. Makaryan. School repairs on tap; or are they? There are no plans for repairing the school. Mayor Petrosyan raised the issue of the school at the February 3 meeting of the Aragatzotn Regional Council attended by Armen Gevorgyan, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Territorial Administration. “The school’s plumbing system is clogged and the basement is flooded. I won’t even bring up the fact that the school’s interior is not the friendliest in terms of encouraging pupils to learn,” said Mayor Petrosyan. He added that the government has yet to make any specific pledges regarding the school’s repair and maintenance. The mayor told us that Vardenis residents sent a letter to President Sargsyan last September. The letter was initialed by the Urban Development Department at the Aragatzotn Regional Authority. In its response, the Aragatzotn Regional Authority confirmed that the school was included in the 2009-2013 regional construction plan and that 90 million AMD had been budgeted for reconstruction and repair. “As far as I understand, that amount won’t even be enough for cosmetic repairs,” Mayor Petrosyan said. Pargev Hambardzumyan, who heads the Department of Education, Culture and Sports at the Aragatzotn Authority, told Hetq that while the school has been included in the four year plan, the plan itself still hasn’t been ratified by the government. “Yes, draft budgets and outlines have been drawn up. But reconstruction of the Vardenis school still hasn’t been formally approved in any government sponsored school construction project,” Mr. Hambardzumyan said.