In the financial year, the Ministry implemented 20 programmes with 203 measures. The initial approved plan was 250 billion 268 thousand AMD, the annual revised plan was 232 billion 998 million AMD, the actual expenses were 218 billion 780 million AMD. The execution against the adjusted plan was 93.9%, compared to the previous year, the expenses increased by 8.3%. This was stated by the RA Deputy Minister of Finance Vahan Sirunyan at the joint sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport and the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, presenting the annual report on the Execution of the RA 2023 State Budget according to the financial indicators of the sectors for debate.
The Commission on Television and Radio implemented 1 programme with 3 measures. The initial annual plan was 374 million AMD, the revised plan was 369 million AMD. Actual expenses of 368 million AMD were made, with 99.3% execution compared to the specified plan, the expenses increased by 13.5% compared to the previous year.
The Council of Public Broadcaster implemented 1 programme with 7 measures. The initial annual plan was 7 billion 676 million AMD, actual expenses of 7 billion 721 million AMD were made, the execution was 92.3%, compared to the previous year, the expenses were about 61.2%, which is mainly conditioned by individual measures.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of the RA Prime Minister's Office implemented 2 programmes with 10 measures. The initial annual plan was 636 million AMD, the revised plan was 812 million AMD, and the actual execution was 793 million AMD. Compared to the previous year, expenses increased by 10.1%.
Then the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan presented in detail the works and results of the Ministry during the financial year, the savings, and noted the shortcomings and problems. The Minister informed that the financial resources allocated to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport are increasing year by year.
Zhanna Andreasyan expressed hope that the indicators of the current year will be much improved.
The Minister referred to the academic city to be built.
According to her, the Academic City foundation was established in 2023, which is the main implementing body of the project of the same name.
“Conceptual works were carried out to fix the idea and the concept of the Academic City. We also had the first contracts. At this point, it is already clear that we will have the final version of the master plan in July.
Several other projects are circulating in parallel. In all these directions, the Ministry is working with the international partners.
The progress of the works shows that we are in a rather high-quality preparatory stage in the direction of the Academic City, which also lays very serious foundations for the implementation of this large-scale project,” Zhanna Andreasyan said.
The Head of the Ministry also highlighted the procedure adopted last year regarding conducting university entrance exams in 2 stages, which reduced the stress and tension of the applicants.
The Minister answered the MPs’ questions and gave clarifications.
The officials of the Commission on Television and Radio, the Council of the Public Broadcaster and the Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of the RA Prime Minister's Office presented the works and performances of the previous year.