Yerevan kindergarten selection raises nepotism questions amid pilot program rollout

The Yerevan Municipality’s choice of kindergartens for a pilot program for very young children has prompted public questions after it emerged that one of the selected institutions is led by the spouse of a senior municipal official.

The pilot program has been launched in two municipal kindergartens – No. 86 and No. 44 – aimed at expanding access for children under the usual preschool age. Attention has focused on Kindergarten No. 86, whose director is married to Sasha Katvalyan, Director of the Yerevan Garbage Removal and Sanitary Cleaning Institution.

Katvalyan previously served as an adviser to Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, headed the Malatia-Sebastia administrative district and took an active role in Avinyan’s mayoral election campaign.

The municipal authorities deny any conflict of interest.

“The selection of kindergartens was based on a combination of objective criteria,” Margarita Khachatryan, head of the Yerevan Municipality’s Education Department, told Panorama.am on Tuesday. “We assessed building conditions, recent renovations, separate entrances and exits, the availability of safe outdoor areas, infrastructure, geographic location and a balanced distribution across administrative districts.”

Khachatryan said demand indicators were also considered, though she did not provide figures.

“I cannot say at the moment what the exact queue numbers were at the planning stage,” she said. “But they were such that both then and now we can predict that we will not face problems next year. At present, only children born in 2023 are registered at Kindergarten No. 86.”

She added that no formal enrolment process has been launched for very young children at either kindergarten, as the initiative remains a pilot project.

Asked whether Katvalyan’s position influenced the decision, Khachatryan categorically rejected the suggestion.

Nevertheless, the case has drawn scrutiny from media particularly due to the lack of publicly available data on enrolment demand and the absence of published selection criteria.

Further questions have been raised about official communications surrounding the project. Photographs posted on the social media accounts of the Yerevan mayor and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports announcing the pilot program do not show Katvalyan despite his presence at the kindergarten during the launch. In contrast, all images posted on the social media pages of the kindergarten include the municipal official.

Kindergarten No. 86 is named after Levon Katvalyan, Sasha Katvalyan’s father, who was killed during the first Artsakh war.