Times Change But Not People

TIMES CHANGE BUT NOT PEOPLE

Panorama.am
14:59 12/04/06

Today the annual general meeting was held in the NAS.

As the above mentioned meeting had been labeled as “meeting of account”
the main event was the annual summary report of academician-secretary
Edward Ghazaryan which certainly met with the unanimous approval of
the academicians.

Later the academicians touched upon the problems that brought the
Armenian science to this bad state. Most of the announcements of
the academicians were mostly of the same character: “academicians’
salary is low”, “how is an aspirant to live on 5000 drams allowance”,
“why does a doctor of science receive lower salary than that of a
teacher” etc.

Yet in the meantime academician Nazareth Hovsepyan mentioned that
the psychology needs to be changed. “If the country’s President and
Prime Minister give the whole state budget to the Academy only, they
will be glorified for two months and then say there is no money,”
the academician said and warned that if one continues this logic
“science will live even worse days than today.”

After witnessing the works of the general meeting the conclusion is
one: first of all the atmosphere in the Academy has to be changed.

We find it necessary to state that nevertheless the academicians go
on working according to Soviet standards. The NAs General Meeting
was more like a collective meeting, whereas during the meeting the
Minister of Education and Science Sergo Yeritsyan emphasized that the
Government is not going to interfere, and the Academy has to solve
the issues itself.