The Armenian parliament concluded its spring session Thursday evening amid a heated debate on two controversial pieces of legislation accompanied with equally passionate protests.

Lawmakers continued discussions (that met with a sort of “filibustering” from at least one opposition group) of a government-drafted package of amendments to the laws on language and general education (proposing opening a limited number of schools where the main language of instruction will be other than Armenian).

The proposed legislation in recent weeks has sparked protests from various public groups, politicians, media and broader intelligentsia that fear the move will diminish the constitutional status of Armenian as the country’s state language.

Responding to public complaints, the government had watered down the original version of the bill before submitting it to the parliament for approval. In particular, under the revised bill, elementary schools in Armenia will continue to teach in Armenian only, the number of schools using foreign-language curricula from the fifth grade up will be limited to 15; all subjects related to Armenian, such as language, literature, history, will still be taught in Armenian; and the schools will not draw public funding. Despite this, most critics are still unhappy and say their fears have not been allayed. They also challenge the widespread government explanation that schools with foreign-language curricula will help raise the quality of education in Armenia.

The Thursday debate on the controversial bill in parliament was held amid a picket organized by a pressure group, ‘We are Against Opening Foreign-Language Schools’. The group has been holding protests in front of the Government session hall since last week (the NA sessions have been held here since May 17, because the NA hall is under repairs.) A number of prominent representatives of the country’s intelligentsia, public and political figures, members of youth organizations were among the participants of the picket. They met lawmakers (except for the MPs of the Armenian Revolutionary Federations Dashnaktsutyun (ARF) and the Heritage factions) scanning: “Shame,” “Traitor,” “If you are for it, then leave,” “Education in Armenian”, etc.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan expressed his position in the debate on Wednesday as he said, through a spokesman, that the matter concerned the opening of a few private schools and that such schools which meet international standards will only give talented children an opportunity not to study abroad, but get complete education at home.

It is noteworthy that the Heritage faction, which is against the bill, managed to foil the NA session in the beginning, taking 20-minute breaks twice. Opposition lawmakers were stressing in their speeches that the level of general education is quite low in Armenia and that foreign-language schools may create opportunities for a new stratifications of the society.

ARF lawmaker Artsvik Minasyan believes that private foreign-language schools will move general education into the sphere of market relations. Parliament member Tigran Torosyan, who is not aligned with any faction, argues that the level of Armenia’s general education will not rise through opening foreign-language schools; meanwhile, school and family are the essential factors for the formation of national identity.

As a result, the discussion of the bill will continue at a special session of parliament that will most probably be convened on June 21-22.

Unlike this bill, the government-submitted draft amendments to the Law on Television and Radio were adopted in the second reading (73/13) at 6:30 p. m.. The amendments aim at regulating the digitization of TV broadcasting in Armenia, which is to be completed by July 2013. But some mass media organizations, as well as oppositionists insist that the authorities are trying to prolong their control over TV and radio broadcasting. The new law will impose stricter conditions for a digital broadcasting license, and the number of TV companies will be reduced from 22 to 18.

When the lawmakers convene for the next regular session in autumn they will be welcomed in a renovated environment – a refurbished two-floor NA oval hall fitted out with modern equipment. The renovation project will have cost taxpayers a total of 480 million drams (about $1.3 million).