On October 17 the Chair of the NA Standing Committee on protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs Elinar Vardanyan met with the senior classes of the schools of Yerevan, Vanadzor and Shirak Marz. The OSCE Yerevan Office, which implements human rights awareness programme in the sphere of joint general education with the NGO Yerevan Club of Intellectual Games, initiated the meeting.
The Committee Chair Elinar Vardanyan presented the pupils the main functions of the legislator and the authorities reserved to them by Constitution and the directions of the activity of the Committee led by her. Mrs Vardanyan also touched upon the peculiarities of majoritarian and proportional electoral orders, talked about the creation of laws, particularly the professional debates in the NA Standing Committees.
During the talk the pupils addressed their questions to Mrs Vardanyan. The schoolchildren expressed concern about the incompatibility of the educational programmes and textbooks, emigration, danger of sects, asked questions about adding free places for studying in the higher educational institutions. Elinar Vardanyan gave exhaustive answers to the schoolchildren’s questions. She also touched upon the cooperation of the Committee with the Institute of the Human Rights Defender, the issues pertaining to the alternative service, the women’s and men’s rights, the protection of the economic, social, cultural rights of the handicapped and the criminal procedure system.