A Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The beneficiaries of this event are recent students in a paid system of undergraduate, graduate and clinical residency programs, with an average grade of 90 or more percent of the highest grade for the entire period of study until the end of the first half of the 2019-2020 academic year, students of other courses in these categories, average the rating indicator of which is 90 percent or more.

The government approved the fourteenth program as part of its ongoing effort to handle the adverse economic impact of COVID-19. The program will support those students involved in higher and postgraduate academic programs who are citizens of the Republic of Armenia. Eligible are undergraduate, graduate and clinical training students involved in the tuition system with a consolidated GPA (Grade Point Average) of 90% and above the maximum score by the end of the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year.

Also, beneficiaries are those students of state and state-licensed higher education institutions who study on a paid basis in full-time and part-time departments for Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, or who are taking clinical residency courses.

“Thus, we can state that our political commitment that no high-performing student will be left out of universities for non-payment of tuition fees is 100% fulfilled,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

The government amended one of its previous decisions to raise scholarships. As a result of the proposed changes, the amount of scholarships given to postgraduate students will increase by 35,000 drams to 65,000 drams for Armenian Studies, 60,000 - for natural sciences and other disciplines, 55,000 - for economics and law, and finally 65,000 - for the doctoral degree. The decision will come into force on September 1.

Proceeding from the child protection system reform, the government amended one of its previous decisions. The amendment suggests redistributing 36,685.3 thousand drams out of 141,358.6 thousand drams provided for the Vanadzor Orphanage SNCO to the remaining SNCOs in order to increase wages. As a result, the average salary in orphanages of a general type will be 130.9 thousand drams, or 23.9 thousand drams more than the current salaries, and in orphanages of a special type - 174.1 thousand drams or 18 thousand drams more than current salaries. The decision will enter into force on May 1.

The government decided to offer free services to the families of servicemen using the latest modern technologies under the conditions guaranteed by the state, as well as to regulate the compensation for the treatment of servicemen and their families by means of medical linear accelerators with energy 15 and above MeV and streamline the process of registering queues for the “Medical services for servicemen, rescue workers and their families” program.

By the government’s decision, 74,972.4 thousand drams will be transferred to the State Property Management Committee of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures in order to cover the maintenance costs of the Center for Radioisotope Production CJSC in 2020.

The Government approved the Police Reform Strategy and the Action Plan for 2020-2022. To achieve these goals, structural changes will be implemented and functions streamlined in the police system. A new ministry shall be set up following the reform.

A Patrol Service and an Operations Management Center will be established. To implement the goals and objectives of the strategy, measures are planned with specific and measurable results, which were mainly reflected in the draft action plan for 2020-2022.

Touching upon the strategy, the Prime Minister said: “I think this is one of our most important reforms, and I am convinced that we will have qualitative changes in the system of enforcement, including the fight against crime and crime prevention.”