The actions of RA Ministry of Finance towards the Ayb Foundation were illegitimate

The Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia stated in two judgments that the inspections of the Financial and Budgetary Supervision Department of the RA Ministry of Finance in the Ayb Educational Foundation were carried out with many violations of RA laws.

The Administrative Court satisfied two lawsuits filed by the Ayb Educational Foundation on January 18, 2021, against the RA Ministry of Finance. The court first considered the actions of the Ministry's Financial and Budgetary Supervision Department to create the Act of September 15, 2020, as illegal and then recognized the absence of apparent abuses as recorded in the act.

To remind you, this refers to the inspections on the accuracy and validity of the funds allocated to the Ayb Foundation from the state budget as part of the contracts signed between the RA Ministry of Education and Science and the Ayb Educational Foundation for the implementation of the National Program for Educational Excellence. The Foundation filed an appeal to the Administrative Court against the Ministry's actions. On the basis of the above-mentioned act of the Ministry, a criminal case was processed against the Foundation, the proceedings of which later were terminated by the RA Investigative Committee for the lack of corpus delicti.

Thus, once again it was confirmed legally that the Ayb Educational Foundation did not and could not commit any abuses, taking into consideration the financial transparency tools that are mandatory components of the Foundation's activities. It should also be noted that the Foundation, together with its community, has made and continues to make heavy investments in the systemic development of education in our country.

This was a new refusal to another inspection of the Foundation. The inspections started back in 2018, when various state institutions, wasting huge resources, tried to reveal "abuses" in Ayb in every possible way. Whether there will be those responsible for this, or whether there will be an apology at least to a huge number of children from Armenia and Artsakh for depriving them of the opportunity to study the internationally recognized Araratian Baccalaureate program, time will tell.

It should be recalled that on January 26, 2021, Ayb filed a complaint to the RA Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the statements and actions of the former minister of education, science, culture, and sports, but the law enforcement bodies of the Republic of Armenia showed inaction, not initiating a case and actually depriving Ayb of the right to a fair trial, even when the Courts (Supreme and Appellate) also recorded a violation of these rights.

At the same time, it is indisputable that Ayb is committed to the protection of its rights and good name, regardless of the nature of the encroachment upon them, regardless of whether the main decisions of the courts are appealed or not.

P.S. Five years ago exactly on this day, May 22, with one ill-considered and baseless statement a huge campaign began against Ayb. Five years ago, if the relevant bodies had not given up on the dissemination of the Araratian Baccalaureate program in the general education system due to that mistake, today we would have had a completely different image in the field of education, a new quality benchmark and many reshaped destinies. Today, the program operates only at Ayb School, while many people could have benefited from this internationally recognized unique Armenian-language education program. And that was the main goal of the Ayb Educational Foundation. We continue our cooperation not only with Cambridge University and University College London but also, regardless of everything, we have been working non-stop with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and many other local and international organizations all these years in order to help advance educational reforms in our country. The evidence of this is the multiple important projects held by Ayb, such as the qualification training for STEM teachers from Tavush marz, the School Leadership Development Program for Principals and Deputy Principals, dissemination of project-based learning, as well as organization of various student competitions and olympiads with the participation of thousands of children. Thus far our community continues to invest heavily in many educational programs, like ensuring the continuity and development of the Araratian Baccalaureate in the hope that such opportunity for the best education will be available to all.