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On May 7, the Parliament debated in the first reading the package of draft laws on Making Addendum to the RA Law on Licensing and the enclosed ones authored by the Government.

The key rapporteur, the RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has noted that there are about 300 organizations in Armenia which implement different preschool educational programmes under the name of the development centers. The centers, acting out of control, educating children, being engaged in children development, taking care of children, do not provide children with the lowest hygiene and sanitary-epidemiological, fire safety requirements of health and safety. At those centers the requirements of the RA Law of Article 17 are not mainly ensured, according to which the main problems of preschool education are the creation of the bases of physical, moral and mental development of a child, getting a child acquainted with the basic rules of conduct, native nature and nature protection, history and the elements of national culture. Zhanna Andreasyan has stated that the Ministry receives numerous alarms on various violations at the development centers and the ministry does not have any lever in the frameworks of the legislation for properly solving the problem.

The aim of the adoption of the legislative initiative is to have joint criteria of state politics in the field of preschool education, ensuring equal field of the license conditions and requirements which will increase the responsibility towards preschool education implementing in the field of education. As the representative of the Government said, levying of state duties will be simultaneously ensured to the state budget in the amount of about 6 mln AMD. Taking into account that it is designed to provide one license for the implementation of the preschool educational programme and the preschool service, it is envisaged to set the amount of the state duty 20.000 AMD.

The Committee member of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Hakob Aslanyan proposed to vote for the adoption of the draft law, by which the activity of the institutions engaged in preschool education will be regulated.

The deputy Sofia Hovsepyan also highlighted the necessity of adopting the bill, noting that the system in a state of neglect for years will act with the relevant control.