“Medicine// sans frontier” French organization in its last
year report stated that the Noubarashen Special School #18 there is an
authoritarian regime, kids do not have any freedom and rights. We attended this
school. We also need to mention that this article is not of investigative
nature. All facts presented here were reflected previously by the MSF and
UNICEF, as well as in some mass media.

 It is not a school but rather a Soviet museum

 The Noubarashen school by its nature reminds Soviet Union
model: everything is neat and mechanical. The school starts with huge fences,
which almost remind fences recently raised between Israel and Palestine. The
reason is that this school is different from other boarding schools. “The
world’s most cunning children are gathered here”, says the school director Zhora
Muradyan, which directs this institutions for 24 years. Here are gathered
children, whose behavior is dangerous for society, they have difficult
relationship with parents and do not attend school intentionally. In general,
they are brought here from streets, as the school principal states.

In the school exclusively boys live and study, in total 78
persons. Last year six girls were adopted in the school, although five of them
were transferred by the demand of the UNICEF to the Armenian Relief Fund center.
The sixth was taken by her mother. When we visited Zhora Muradian, seven
schoolboys of the 6th grade were in his room, with books on history on their
knees and studied the history of the USA. The directors says about some of them
that they were semi-literate when they arrived the school. Yervand, 15-year-old,
was reciting poem of Teryan. “He came here three years ago, and was
semi-illiterate at that time, and now he is one of the best students”, says Mr.
Muradian. Then we walked in the garden, where apricot and apple trees are
planted. The huge garden is well cultivated. Under the fence dividing the school
from street there is a place where students have talks with their teacher,
though they do not seem much talking. Andranik, 14-year-old, was recalling what
he was doing before coming here- stealing. Valerik, 15-year-old, was telling in
presence of Mr. Muradian: “Before I was illiterate, and here I have friends and
good people around me.” Andranik adds: We are forced to study here in order not
appear behind the bars in future”. Zhora Muradian, about whose cruelty former
students of the school informed the press, asked Andranik: “Is it nice that I am
harsh?” “It is nice”, replies Andranik. Then we go the sport yard where some
children were playing football. 65-year Muradian encourages kids. Sometimes, he
also hits the ball. Before that we walked inside the school.

The school is so clean, and it seems that nobody has lived
there from the date of its construction. The class equipment is of 1981-1982.
Even the white color of tables is not wrecked. On the wall of the hall, among
citation of famous people, there is one of Soviet pedagogue Makarenko: “A smart
system of punishment is not only legal but also necessary”. We enter the reading
room of the school. The books there are in such a neat order, and in so good
condition that it looks like nobody read them. In one of the shelves, Muradian
keeps textbooks of the Soviet time. In the demonstration hall, there is movie
big screen equipment, probably, the single one which is saved in the whole
country. There is no scratch on it, as nobody has ever used it. The whole
equipment for language class is well-preserved, and works smoothly, according to
the director. All classrooms for all subjects are in exemplary conditions, as
nobody studied in these classes. The floor of the school is about 40 years old,
and almost all deformed. However, it is so white, as nobody walks on it. The
director says that he knows a special technique to keep the floor white. The
only relatively bad condition was the sport hall, where the roof is ruined and
the director says that it will cost about three or four thousand USD to renovate
it, and that hopefully, the Armenian Evangelist Church can help with it. The
only modern place is the bathroom and washing room, where there are places
washing and drying machines the last American models, and nearby are two huge
soviet washing machines. The bathroom is renovated according to the last
fashion.

Preparation to survive in the army

 Currently, Zhora Mouradian has problems with all
international organizations interested in the school. These organizations do not
like the restrictive requirements in the school, such as marching to dining
room, night shifts, absence of homosexual relations, as well as lack of any
scratches on walls. To a question of a UNICEF representative “why the walls are
so clean? were not the children from streets?”, Zhora Martisorian replied: “How
pickpockets feel in a church? They become podtyanutii disciplined”.
International organizations complained that there is no ink on tables, and
raised a question whether children do study sitting at tables. “Medicine without
borders” organizations complained that in the school army trends prevail,
children have 5 or 6 hours of daily tiring exercises. The director says that
there is a club of “Yerkrapahs” in the school, where kids theory of military and
learn how to open/close guns. We prepare them to the army, the unprepared commit
suicide. Even beds are covered as in the army.  

Foreigners will not understand us 

The things worsened when a UNICEF representative announced
that children face violence in this school. An internet magazine ‘Armenia Now’
wrote about this violence, story about cruel attitude of the staff and
especially the principal of the school Zhora Mouradian. One of the former
students of the school who did not want to be named, told the magazine: “several
children wanted to run away from the school, but they were caught, and after
that pied on: The other kid, Stepan Safarian remembers about his first days in
the school: “The teacher Michaelyan, when I could not write perfectly the letter
N, hit me and the blood came out of my nose. I took a handkerchief and cleaned
the blood. Mikaelyan ordered to come closer to him, and hot me again. I said
that I would call my mother and complain and said that he would destroy my
letter and myself. Another guy Vasily, says that there was not a single day when
somebody was not beaten. Zhora Mouradian does not exclude that children were
influenced by somebody to tell these stories. The author of the article, as he
says, was registered in some hospital for mental disabled. He told that while a
UNICEF representative said that she noticed a fear in eyes of kids, the
accompanying deputy minister of Science and Education replied: “Why we don’t
notice it?” “We can admit our shortcomings, and, however, the international
organizations should understand our national character too. Yes, we can give a
slap on the face, and I say let’s decide on the definition of violence”,
explains the school principal. He adds: “I am for tough teaching, I can slap
too, don’t forget that these are kids from street”. He takes from the shelf a
textbook for 8th graders “Human Rights” and says that this is not a textbook but
a muddle. He reads a title of one of the chapters: “Economic and social rights
of human beings and citizens” and says, do our children need it?

He tells that the UN representative was surprised that
there are no cases of homosexuality, even when all kids are boys. He was
astonished, and the deputy minister tried to comfort him: “Dear Zhora, if we
don’t listen to them, we won’t obtain finances”. Another complain of the UN
representative was that children are afraid of the principal, because they don’t
complain about him. “I sincerely state that when children come to school, all
they embrace me”, says the principal. The complaints from international
organizations make Zhora Mouradian nervous: “I cannot work in these conditions,
on June 10th I'll be leaving the school. They don’t see all the work done in
this school, they just see small shortcomings and disregard the huge work done”.
He is glad that our government, however, highly appreciate his efforts. Aida
Topuzian, the deputy minister of Science and Education of RA, hearing the news
about his decision to leave, told him: “You should not leave, you have to stay”.
After the publication in the Armenia Now people from the government called
Mouradian to comfort him: “You are the forth person in the state, after the
President, Prime Minister and the NA Speaker, against whom the negative attitude
is directed. Zhora Mouradian should not worry about living expenses. According
to him, he has business outside and gave to this school whatever was possible to
give.

Children learn how to protect/herkel the press

 If you find a student who says that he does not like him,
the next day I will not enter the school”, assures the principal, former
assistant to prosecutor. One of newspapers said that the director teaches
children to report on each other, which means that anyone has to inform Zhora
Mouradian about a misbehavior of others.  “If a person did a bad thing, he has
to go to church and confess there, says a 12-year old Narek, who is well-known
in the school for his knowledge on Christianity.  “Here we have tradition to
gather all together in the morning, and children inform what they have done in
the evening.  This is not spying but honesty”, declares Mr. Mouradian.  We
talked with children.  They tell with great readiness how journalists or
international organizations forced them to tell that they were beaten.  In
presence of the principal, 14-year old Andranik tells that one of the guests of
the school said to another student, Zhirair: “I will give you a bonbon if you
say that you were beaten here”.  One other boy says that he was asked to be
honest and tell whether the school director thought them to fill a plastic
packet with glue and bread it, and that he said ‘no’.  Then children started to
say good things about the school, that they are well-fed there, and study their
lessons.  Grigor compared the school with other boarding schools and said that
it was very bad there, they were given nothing.  Zhora Mouradian remarks that
Grigor damaged the ball and now is afraid of punishment”. Children had to go to
classes and to eat soup and smashed potato.  In some sense, they deserved a
bread of the day.

Mher Arshakyan