Onnik Krikorian has just published a fascinating article, based on his a UNICEF report [Update: Onnik points out that the report is not actually his, and has posted a comment below with fuller details], on the problems of minority education in Armenia. His report particularly emphasizes the problems facing ethnic Russian Molokans in the region:
[...]And herein lies the problem. As idyllic and refreshing as the scene might be, the situation in terms of education is just the opposite. In fact, according to a recent survey of education in national minority communities by the Hazarashen Armenian Centre of Ethnological Studies, “Molokans continue retaining [their] virtues over education and thus, the inertia of perceiving education as secondary continues.”
[...]Children from national minority communities are instead expected to tend the fields and shepherd livestock rather than attend school. The UNICEF-funded report also noted that some Molokan families have even been known to pull their children out of school as early as the second or third grade.
“Parents think that 3 years of education is enough for a child to know how to sell milk, cabbage and count 10 eggs which means that the child will be able to earn money,” says the report, summarizing the attitude of Molokans in Lermontovo towards education. “Having a full stomach is better than having an education.”
Onnik used to regularly write for Armenian blog Blogrel, but has recently started his own blog – Oneworld Multimedia – publishing quality journalism and photography from Armenia and the Caucasus.
FIOLETOVO, Lori Region – It’s not often that you encounter a village that makes you feel like an “outsider” in Armenia but Fioletovo is one of the few that do – in every sense of the word. It’s not that the residents of this ethnically homogenous village made up of Russian Molokans don’t like visitors. It’s simply that their presence isn’t considered essential for this small community to survive and prosper.
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Just to clarify. The report is actually not mine. It was written by the Hazarashen Armenian Centre of Ethnological Studies in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the National Statistics Service of the Republic of Armenia.
The report was technically and financially supported by UNICEF and it served as filling in some of the details for this article based on a few field trips to Yezidi, Assyrian and Molokan villages in Armenia. The report is not yet ready for public release but should soon be.
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