The closure of the rural school in Armenia will not only deal the heaviest blow to the education system, but will also become a direct impetus for a new wave of emigration, as a result of which the village of Gusanagyugh in Shirak Province will simply be destroyed and completely emptied. Aram Manukyan, the vice chairman of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) party, announced this during their election campaign in Shirak Province on Monday.

The opposition figure recorded a video message directly from the school building in the border village of Gusanagyugh in the Ani region of Shirak Province, calling this school a typical, recently renovated, and excellent example of an educational institution in excellent condition. He noted that this school currently has 92 students and about 30 employees, but according to the decision of the authorities, this beautiful and well-groomed school will be closed—starting from September 1.

According to Manukyan, it is planned to take children to another village for education, which is not at all larger than this village, which is why schoolchildren will have to travel 6 kilometers to and from school every day.

The ANC vice chairman said that Gusanagyugh is a large village with more than 1,000 inhabitants, located 1,500 meters above sea level and just a few kilometers from Armenia’s state border with Turkey. Aram Manukyan expressed deep concern that the closure of an educational institution in such a strategically important place will lead to an irreversible outflow of the local population.

He noted that without a school, life in this border community will come to a standstill, and the village itself will be doomed to gradual disappearance. Manukyan announced that their political force will do everything possible to thwart these destructive plans of the Armenian authorities.

He said that one of the main goals of their political team is to protect Armenia’s regional infrastructure and save the country’s villages from destruction.

“We will make every effort to stop this destructive course of the current authorities, stop the closure of schools, and prevent the final desolation of our villages,” concluded Aram Manukyan.