Public Education – A Mandatory Right

Article 38 of the Constitution of Armenia states that everyone has the right to education, while the law “on Education” defines compulsory schooling at the elementary and middle school levels…

It turns out that public education is a unique process- somewhere between a right and an obligation. As a process funded and implemented by the state, it requires measurability- in other words, statistical data on its outcomes.

For the state, the measurability of the education it provides is reflected in various statistical indicators- from school construction to results achieved in international Olympiads. Yet, as a rule, no statistical study is conducted to determine what percentage of students come to school motivated, or within the average classroom of different age groups, what percentage actually struggle to keep up with subject curricula, ultimately, and to put it mildly, fall out of the educational process.

As an indicator of quality education, one could look at the most ordinary, everyday lesson and see how truly engaged the students are, and whether the subject requirements in that lesson are accessible and understandable to all.

And we would see a completely different picture: in almost every classroom, there would be children with nothing to do- students who have lost the thread of continuity in the subject.

Talking about differentiated instruction would be self-deception, because our education system still does not provide the opportunities and resources that would at least technically make differentiated instruction possible.

In general, the legal characteristic of public education is accessibility and inclusivity in the broadest sense of the word- in other words, education for all. It is an educational system where a developing, growing individual has the opportunity to progress naturally in a non-competitive environment, building on their own abilities and skills, and measuring themselves against who they were before.

A compulsory public education system implies a stable uniformity of curricula- education based not on individual needs, but on universal requirements. The reasonable combination of these two essentially opposing concepts, as a model of the relationship between society and the individual, can serve as an indicator of the quality of education.

Of course, education requires serious attention from the state: quality education demands significant public investment, along with the targeted allocation of those resources and consistent follow-through.

It takes courage in education policy to shape the content of accountability not on achievements and successes (which are often exaggerated) but on shortcomings and the work still to be done, as this would be a far stronger incentive for progress.

And perhaps then, the line between the right and the obligation of public education will fade, and public education will become a conscious choice.

Nelli Hayrapetyan