Serzh Srapionyan: There is a fear that new textbooks will make a fuss

Those writers, whose works vividly illustrate Armenian realia, were excluded from the newly created textbook of Armenian literature in accordance with the new educational standards.

In a conversation with Alpha News, literary critic Serzh Srapionyan noted that after seeing the content of the textbook, he no longer wanted to read it.

He said that works of those writers who wrote about the country, the nation and national issues with the precision of a public speaker were missing in the textbook.

“Raffi, only one work of Shirvanzade – not even ‘Chaos’. Tumanyan’s individual works, Charents’ ‘Book of Roads’ collection… the list can be continued,” the literary critic noted.

He mentioned that the literature of the medieval period, without which there could be no Armenian literature, was not included in the textbook. Any nation would be proud to have such medieval literature.

“They say that children don’t understand, they won’t understand Narekatsi, they won’t understand Khorenatsi, forgetting that for seven decades in the Soviet schools, children understood it well, they remembered the myth of Hayk and Bel by heart,” the literary critic noted.

Serzh Srapionyan even expressed doubts that some of the textbooks had not been published until today, and thus they had not reached the schools because of the fear that their content would make a big fuss.

The co-author of the new Armenian literature textbook is a former student of Serzh Srapionyan. The literary expert emphasizes that his student, having never been to school, decided that he could write a textbook.

“I myself have taught students for three years while lecturing, if they tell me to write a textbook, I will not have the courage to do such a thing,” Srapionyan said.

He urged teachers to be more courageous. He reminded that during the time of the former authorities, no one was afraid to criticize the textbook authored by this or that person, but now they are obviously afraid.

“Now, if any teacher calls these textbooks inacceptable, consider that he is deprived of his job,” he said. “These textbooks should be considered waste and put in the trash. Create committees of knowledgeable people on different subjects, write textbooks, and present them to the teaching community for assessment. Only when they are positively assessed, they can be printed and presented to the school.”