Cold Reality: Gyumri school superior in facility, failing marks for comfort
FEATURES | 01.03.13 | 15:31
Photo: gyumri20.schools.am
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
For years during the cold season students at Gyumri’s Byron School
have sat in their classes in overcoats and warm jackets, in a facility
that was designed to be `state of the art’ when it was a
post-earthquake jewel of the city.
One of Gyumri’s best schools, it was built after the devastating
Spitak earthquake in 1988 with the efforts of the British government
and Armenian-British organizations. Since 1996, however, meaning for
the past 17 years, the school has been unable to use its central
heating system. The classrooms are heated with electric heaters.
`The air temperature almost never goes above 15 degrees (59F),’ school
principle Grigor Harutyan, who has been in charge of Byron school
since 1991, told ArmeniaNow; he himself does not take off his warm
overcoat in his cold office.
Here, a reporter’s visit is always associated with the heating
problem, because for years the issue has been raised, but never got
solved. Now, due to the efforts of Tekeyan Center Fund under
British-Armenian businessman Vartan Ouzounian and the British
Ambassadors in Armenia, the school might be getting a new heating
system this summer. The Tekeyan Center has organized fundraising,
which is still in progress. The Fund director Armen Tsulikyan says he
has his hopes high that soon the required money will be collected and
during spring they can start the work.
Meanwhile, the 438 students use only those classrooms that face the
sun, because, as the principle says, on the other side of the building
it is impossible to conduct lessons. Despite the cold, the students
stand out for their academic achievements, and the principle doesn’t
hide how much pride he takes in them: the walls in his office are
covered with the diplomas and certificates of honor from various
academic olympiads and competitions won by his students.
`If the heating issue is solved, we have no other issues, our school
is a very good one,’ he says with deep sense of satisfaction.
President of the school’s student council Syuzi Lazarian says it is
regrettable that the cold prevents them from making the best use of
all the facilities the school offers.
`Facility-wise our school is wonderful, but we are unable to use them:
we have designated classrooms for chemistry and physics which are
rather spacious, thus impossible to heat with electric heaters,’ says
Lazarian, who somehow managed to persuade her parents not to move her
to a different school.
`Well, when we write, we make our brains work and somehow forget about
being physically cold. Plus, the boys are more active, they keep
asking to go to the blackboard and answer the lesson,’ the 13-year-old
student says, as if wanting to comfort the principle.
In the dark and cold 1990s, such a school with modern facilities,
well-furnished and with English-bias in Gyumri mostly ruined by the
earthquake was indeed a splendid innovation. The fact that the school
had a central heating system was a very rare thing in those years not
only for Gyumri, but entire Armenia, because of the heavy energy
crisis the country was challenged with. British Prime-Minister
Margaret Thatcher personally did the opening ceremony of the school in
June of 1990. For the city in ruins Thatcher’s visit was a large-scale
event, she was received with great enthusiasm and joy.
The excellent heating system built by the British, however, very soon
got destroyed, because the technology was not really suited for as
cold a place as Gyumri, where the air temperature in winter drops up
to -25C.
The school’s heating issue last year was raised by David Dowell, a
retired British businessman who owned the construction company which
did the school roofing. He has been paying regular visits to Armenia,
Gyumri in particular, and got a heavy impression after his visit to
the school last winter. Upon his return to England Dowell addressed a
letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron describing the situation and
warning that if no measures were taken the school might be facing
losing its students and closing down, since their number is now three
times less than in the beginning. Fortunately, Cameron’s office heeded
the warning and instructed the British Ambassadors (spouses, taking
4-month shifts of ambassador duties) in Armenia to take up the issue.
Ambassadors Jonathan James Aves and Kathy Jane Leach visited the
school, talked to the principle, discussed the possible options for
solving the issue and decided to turn to the Tekeyan Center Fund,
which had the experience of installing heating systems in a number of
other schools.
Tekeyan’s Tsulikyan told ArmeniaNow that their project is the optimal
solution and the cheapest among the discussed. Nor Tun (New House)
company did the planning and budgeting. According to the project, five
separate small boiler houses will be built – one at each of the five
school wings – to heat only the classrooms. The budget totals to
around 14.5 million drams ($36,000).
`We decided not to heat the corridors, which are seven meters high, so
that the school can cover the expenses. Heating the corridors would
waste a lot of electric power. Given also the potential hike in
natural gas tariffs they realized that if the school were to be heated
>From top to bottom, they would not be able to afford it,’ says
Tsulikyan.
The Fund director says that the fundraising is in process both in
Great Britain and Armenia. So far 250,000 drams (around $617) has been
donated to the special bank account, and one million drams each
(around $2,500) will be allotted by Shirak regional administration and
Gyumri city hall as a community co-funded humanitarian project.
`I am making an appeal to all philanthropists, and people who care
both in and outside Armenia, but especially in Armenia, because after
all it is our school; I am asking them to donate, even if minimum
sums,’ says Tsulikyan, adding that there are also donation promises,
but the money has not been transferred yet.
If the required amount is collected, Byron school, Tsulikyan says,
will have a new heating system by August.
http://armenianow.com/society/features/44043/byron_school_gyumri_tekeyan_center_british_ambassadors