YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education and Science gave diplomas to a number of intellectuals for the great contribution in the affair of keeping, development and spreading of the Armenian language and on the occasion of the international day of mother tongue. In the Minister's words, the year of 2007 is announced "the year of immaculateness of the Armenian language" on the occasion of which the Ministry favoured intellectuals with its modest attention for their everyday hard work. In L.Mkrtchian's words, today there are rather worrying problems from the viewpoint of keeping and immaculateness of the Armenian language at the public and scientific level. Those problems are always in the center of attention of the Language State Department of the Ministry of Education and Sceince. It was also mentioned that it is envisaged to make a number of serious structure amendments in the system of the department engaged in the language policy. YSU Professor Hovhannes Barseghian, Sergey Galstian, Armenian Language Department Chief Levon Yezekian, YSEU Armenian Language Department Chief Professor Mari Zakarian as well as Artush Ghukasian, the Rector of the Kh.Abovian State Pedagogical University were given diplomas of the Ministry of Education and Science. Diplomas were also given to Tovmas Poghosian, the head of the Sayat-Nova bard ensemble, Nadya Antonian, the head of the M.Mashtots Speach and Culture Center, Grigor Melkumian, the Yerevan Mayor's Office staff head. Lavrenti Hovhannisian, the Director of the NAS Hr. Acharian Language Institute, writer, publicist, NA deputy Ruben Hovsepian were given the same diplomas. And Lavrenti Mirzoyan, the Chief of the Language State Department of the RA Ministry of Education and Science was rewarded with a memorial medal. As L.Yezekian, the YSU Armenian Language Department Chief mentioned, literate knowledge of the Armenian language among students of many faculties is in a rather poor state, so reduction of schools hour of the Armenian language, even in favour of the Armenian literature is not admissible.

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