Tatoyan warns against school closures in Syunik

Opposition candidate Arman Tatoyan on Monday criticized “blind optimization” of schools in Armenia’s Syunik Province, warning that closing them would amount to “emptying villages on purpose.”

Speaking at a campaign stop in Kapan ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections, the Wings of Unity party’s candidate for prime minister said the government is considering shutting down the historic school in Davit Bek, where national figure Aram Manukyan once studied.

“These schools should be preserved and turned into educational and cultural centers,” Tatoyan said. “Closing a school is the same as deliberately depopulating a village.”

Tatoyan emphasized that Syunik has faced the largest wave of school closures in the country.