The government plans to submit for discussion soon a bill amending Armenia’s Law “On Military Obligation” that proposes conscripting male students who have received bachelor’s degree regardless whether they qualify to do the masters’ program or not. Another variant under discussion is to draft all males who attain the age of 18 without giving them the right to deferment that currently they achieve if until reaching that age they have been in high school.

The issue is still debated in closed circles and has not yet reached the National Assembly floor, but as many say, the issue has acquired urgency because of a demographic crisis that threatens to reduce the army’s combat efficiency.

The conscripts to the Armenian army in the next few years will be the generation born in the early 1990s whose number progressively decreases and, as Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said, it is necessary to find solutions to minimize the impact of demographic problems on the army’s efficiency.

According to the data of the State Statistical Service, the birth rate in Armenia had seen a sharp decline since the 1990s, showing a decrease by several thousand every year. Whereas in 1990-1992 the annual birth rate was more or less steady around the level of 70,000, then in 1995 it reduced to 48,000 and by 2006 it had plummeted to 37,000. The decrease pattern has been reversed since that year as the birth rate has shown an annual growth by some 2,000 or 3,000 to date.

These figures show that the country will face serious challenges in manning the army still for at least the coming decade.

And what will happen to science?

“Depriving [male students] of the right to deferment from military service cannot but affect sciences; if after completing studies for a bachelor’s degree a student goes to serve in the army for two years and forgets almost everything, it is simply pointless to expect that he will do sciences or become a good specialist in the future,” says lawmaker Anahit Bakhshyan of the Heritage faction who is a member of the parliament’s standing commission on education.

Under the law currently in effect, higher school students receive the right to deferment and are not enlisted to military service until they complete master’s studies and also if they receive the right to post-graduate studies. Only those who eventually acquire the degree of a candidate of sciences are exempted from the duty of active military service.

Artur Iskhanyan, who set up the Light Foundation and secured the support of the highest officials to provide state funding to young people who manage to enter the world’s first-rate schools of higher learning, says it is regrettable that the state currently faces the army versus science dilemma.

“The problem of army personnel enrolment, no doubt, is among the problems of all-state importance and I treat it very seriously, but abolishing the right to deferment from active military service will surely have an impact on the development of sciences,” says Ishkhanyan, a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

Two variants of amendments are currently under consideration – to draft students after the complete studies for a bachelor’s degree or immediately after school.
Ishkhanyan sees this choice as a choice between “two evils”, and if the lesser of the evils is chosen, sciences will sustain minimal losses.

“Both variants are equally unacceptable. If teenagers are drafted immediately after they leave school, then this variant brings about a technical problem – boys usually graduate from school at age 17, and then will have to wait for a year to go to the army, return in two years and wait for another year to be able to enter a higher school; this means they will be losing 3 to 4 years,” says Ishkhanyan.

According to Ishkhanyan, if a choice must be made, then ‘the lesser of the evils’ is conscripting boys after they leave school, since in this case a young person will continue studies without obstacles in the next years.

Many consider this option acceptable and say that this will make it possible also to grapple with corruption currently existing in institutions of higher learning.

“In this case we will not have applicants who seek to be admitted to universities to avoid conscription, who are ready to go to all lengths to get the army out of their way. And, while studying those primarily avoiding service in the army are also vulnerable and prone to corrupt practices as they risk becoming dropouts and losing eligibility for deferment. The need to avoid unsatisfactory marks makes them a soft target for bribe extortionists,” says Susanna Minasyan, a member of the Students Rights Protection initiative.

Meanwhile, opposition members consider these changes unacceptable and blame the authorities for “demonstrating short-sightedness” in this field as well.

“Is it just today that it has become known that we have demographical problems since the ‘90s? The foundations of a professional army should have been laid a long time ago, there is no solution other than that, even if the birth rates start to grow from now,” says Heritage faction secretary Stepan Safaryan.

He stresses that this decision will seriously affect sciences in contrast to the authorities’ repeated statements that the scientific potential is Armenia’s major resource.

Armenia’s Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan has also voiced his concerns about the planned changes. He said that these changes “restrict the rights of a certain group of students, since the deferment given to students for the purpose of learning regards the whole course of study and masters’ courses are considered to be part of the process.”

The newly appointed head of the National Assembly’s standing commission for science, education, culture and youth and sport affairs Armen Ashotyan expressed confidence that a law that will have minimal damage on education will be passed in the end.

“We all understand that the conscription age is approaching the “demographic hole” and it is clear that priority should be given to raising the efficiency of the army,” says Ashotyan and adds that “education-related losses must be minimized” and that “mechanisms of social protection” should be put in place for young people recruited for military service.