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On November 4, the budget debates continued at the joint sitting of the Standing Committees on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs. Sectoral allocations by the financial document for the next year were presented.

It is proposed to allocate 8 billion 285 million drams to the Council of Public Broadcaster, which is 88 million 905 thousand drams less than the 2025 budget.

374 million 380 thousand drams will be allocated to the Commission on TV and Radio, which is 6 million 811 thousand drams less than the last year.

762 million drams are planned to be allocated for the implementation of programmes related to the Diaspora, which is 82 million drams less than the budget allocation for the last year.

It is proposed to allocate 420 billion 224 million drams to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS), which is 57 billion 560 million drams more than the 2025 budget, or about 16%. There are increases in almost all areas of this sector.

The Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan presented the financial allocations at the joint sitting of the NA Standing Committees, after which the MoESCS Zhanna Andreasyan referred to the programmes and activities. It was noted that 85% of the expenditures are directed to the education sector – 356 billion drams. More than 200 events are planned to be implemented in the sector. The expenditures of the education sector will amount to about 3% of GDP. “We are recording this reality in a situation where even developed countries around the world are recording a decrease in the state budget allocated to the education sector,” the Minister noticed.

The capital expenditures account for about 38% of the budget – 168.7 billion drams. The capital expenditures have been increased by 1,168% compared to 2021. Compared to 2025, the increase was 34.8%.

“Since independence, any government has not invested as much in these areas as it does under the current government,” Zhanna Andreasyan underlined, adding that 64 billion drams of capital expenditures for the school construction program were recorded over the 10 months of 2025. The performance was 20 billion drams in 2023 and 40 billion drams in 2024. “In other words, the progress in the performance of capital expenditures shows that we make as much capital expenditures per quarter as we could previously do for the whole year,” the Minister noted.

The budget for the programme “300 Schools, 500 Kindergartens” is 385 billion drams, of which about 153 billion drams have been spent as of October of this year. The work was completed in 60 schools, of which 35 new ones were built and 25 were renovated. By the end of the year, another 50 schools will be commissioned, of which 8 are under construction and 42 are under renovation. By September 1, 2026, another 151 schools will be commissioned, 49 new ones have been built and 102 are under renovation. It is envisaged to have another 47 new schools by December 31, 2026. As of December 31, 2026, 308 schools will be ready, of which 139 have been built and 169 have been fully renovated. The construction of another 49 schools will be completed in 2027, the work will be completed in 357 schools. “This will not be a complete solution to the problems existing in the field of school construction. This is the first 300 schools programme, and we are preparing the lists for the next school construction programme,” the Minister emphasized and added that the programme is targeted.

Zhanna Andreasyan also detailed the Equipping Schools with Modern Laboratories in Natural Sciences and Information Laboratories programme. She noted that today approximately 60% of schools have the necessary laboratories.

School funding was 85.26 billion drams in 2019, and according to the 2026 budget, it will amount to 131.6 billion drams, recording an increase by 64.8%.

The Minister also presented steps aimed at the improvement of the system, institutional reforms, measures to strengthen the knowledge and skills of teaching staff, and other programmes. According to her, the inclusion of children in the education system has significantly increased.

The allocations for the Academic City project will amount to about 5 billion drams. The implementation of the project is already in the practical phase.

The science strategy for the next 5 years is under discussion, which will provide an opportunity to clarify further actions in the field.

The Minister also detailed the significant investments in the culture sector and the measures to ensure the diversity of cultural life.

Zhanna Andreasyan also answered the MPs’ questions.