Protesting theatre & cinema students demand rector’s resignation in Armenian capital
A group of students of Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography are protesting outside the institute, demanding the resignation of its rector and the management board.
The protests come after the Armenian police uncovered financial misconduct allegations at the university. According to an earlier statement of the police, certain officials of the institute have used their powers to falsify official documentation and misuse state funds from 2012 to 2016.
Hasmik Israelyan, a PhD candidate in philology, says she has joined the protesting students to support them since the university is facing numerous issues, and the students want to receive proper education in line with their paid tuition fees.
“Paying an annual tuition fee of 600,000 drams, they, of course, should be demandable. The police revelations have further angered the students. They are demanding both the return of their money and the resignation of its management board,” she said.
One of the protesting students stressed the protests are not sparked only by the recent wrongdoing allegations in the university, adding they had numerous complaints still at the end of the last academic year.
The police have so far unveiled three misconduct cases by the university officials. In one case, the vice-rector for staff and international cooperation of the institute, who assumed the post of the English language lecturer, reportedly never taught a class but was paid 3.5 million drams in wages.
In addition, the police revealed that his wife and another vice-rector’s niece were hired to the post of department managers. They in fact failed to show up for work and were then issued maternity leave, but were paid 900,000 drams.
In the third case, the police allege that starting from January 2016 the institute concluded an unwarranted car-leasing contract with the wife of one of the vice-rectors. The vehicle was used by the vice-rector for his personal needs, while the institute spent some 8,150,000 drams to pay the lease and the driver’s salary.
A probe is underway.
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