The newly appointed Minister of Education and Science, Mr. Spartak Seyranian, was born in a modest family in the village of Salda (Akhalkhalak region, Georgia) in 1963. After obtaining his high school diploma at the age of 17 (in USSR primary and secondary education used to last 10 years), he worked as a manual worker at Yeraz automobile factory for almost 2 years. In 1981, he was admitted to the Yerevan State University from which he graduated with a Master’s degree in History.Despite the fact that Mr. Seyranian did not pursue his education at post-graduate/doctoral level, he started working as a researcher at the State Museum of Ethnography (1986-89) and later at the Genocide Research Center (1993-97). The official biographies that are available on the National Assembly and the Ministry of Education websites do not mention what Mr. Seyranian has done during the critical and turbulent years of the Karabakh Movement and independence (1989-93). They only reveal his joining ARF-Dashnak party in 1990.
In 1997, Mr. Seyranian made a career shift by becoming a journalist. He worked at Hayots Ashkharh daily as the deputy editor-in-chief for almost 4 years (1997-2001). Later, he acted as the editor-in-chief of Yerkir weekly which is an official publication of ARF-Dashnak party (2004-2008).
Mr. Seyranian has also had a brief political experience. He served as a parliamentarian for one year (2006-7). At the National Assembly, he was a member of the standing committee on National Defense, Security and Internal Affairs. (Note: The NA does have a standing committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport).
In 2007 parliamentary elections, Mr. Seyranian was not reelected to the NA and continued to serve as the editor-in-chief of Yerkir weekly and as the ARF-Dashnak party spokesperson. During 2008 presidential elections, he was actively involved in support of ARF-Dashnak candidate, Mr. Vahan Hovannisian.
Mr. Seyranian has a very atypical profile for a minister of education. Ministers of education around the world usually have advanced academic credentials as well as extensive experiences in teaching and/or academic administration. Short of these regular prerequisites, Spartak Seyranian can be considered as an outsider.
It is to be seen if the status of an outsider will help the new Minister implement long overdue reforms at the Ministry of Education and Science (MES); one of the most inefficient and ineffective state administrations in Armenia that has survived the collapse of Soviet Union. Or his lack of credibility and experience in the field of education will oblige him to rely and eventually become dependent on mid-level MES bureaucrats, in which case the Armenian HES will experience yet another period of immobility.
