Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan provided a few clarifications today to the lively debate around the issue of opening schools in Armenia with a foreign language as the medium of instruction as he presented a modified version of this draft law. The Minister noted that the draft law now contained a point limiting the number of such schools to 15, of which 8 would be in Yerevan and 7 in the marzes.  The issue of specific languages has also been cleared – a maximum of 5 schools per language will be allowed, which will prevent the dominance of any one language.  The main languages expected in this area are English, Russian as well as French and German. The Minister insisted that foreign language schools would teach national subjects such as Armenian language, literature and history with Armenian as the medium of instruction, at the same level as in other schools.  This would mean that the exams that schoolchildren take to graduate from the schools would be at the same level. Armen Ashotyan also mentioned that there would be no foreign language schools at the elementary level (grades 1 to 4) – they would be limited to secondary school (grades 5 to 9) and high school (grades 10 to 12).  “Upon consulting with experts, we came to the conclusion that a child’s language-based thinking develops in elementary school,” he said. Another interesting fact is that these schools will not be funded by the state.  “Once the National Assembly adopts the draft law, the Government will develop a procedure that will clarify issues of funding for these schools.  One thing, however, is certain – these schools will not be funded by the state.  Just as the American University of Armenia is functioning without this funding today, so will these schools – some may work through intergovernmental funding, other may be funded by local Armenians.” Each school would develop its own procedures for admission and the organization of examinations.