To ensure accessibility to general education, the measure “Compensation of Transportation Costs for Teachers of General Education Schools and School-Age Children” is planned in the scope of support measures of the “General Education” Programme for the pupils and teachers of general education schools in the regions of the Republic of Armenia.

AMD  523.3 mln from the state budget were allocated to the implementation of this measure. 1,064 general education schools, 3,000 schoolchildren, and 5,561 teachers benefited from the support.

According to the draft amendment to the compensation procedure for 2023 of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports:

• Compensation of expenses for transportation services to the pedagogues is provided to teachers, military instructors, assistant teachers and special educators of general education schools in the regions of the Republic of Armenia working in a settlement located at a distance of more than 5 km from their actual place of residence, in the amount of 0.5 full-time equivalents or more.
• Transportation services will also be reimbursed to school-age children who, due to the absence of an institution at their actual place of residence (settlement, village), receive education at an institution located in another settlement, due to the absence of a program of the specified level in the existing institution.
• The maximum amount of compensation (calculated in both directions for each day of attendance) is the amount of the tariffs set for minibus routes only in the case of minibus routes, and the amount of the tariffs set for bus routes in the case of both minibus and bus routes. In the absence of minibus and bus routes, a fee of 25 drams is calculated for each kilometer, but no more than 200 drams (calculated in both directions) for each day of attendance. In case of the absence of minibus and bus routes, if the number of teachers and school-age children traveling from a given settlement to a given school is 4 or less, compensation is provided in the amount of AMD 1,000 (calculated in both directions) for each day of attendance, distributed equally between those teachers and school-age children.

The Figure shows the budget funding allocated to compensation of transportation costs for teachers of General Education Schools and school-age children for the period of 2021-2024 (in AMD/bln)

This publication has been developed with the financial support of the European Union, within the framework of a sub-grant provided under the “Budgets for Citizens” project implemented by a consortium led by the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO. It has been implemented by “Media for Education” NGO within the framework of the “Education Expenses/Quality of Critical Thinking” project. The “Media for Education” NGO is responsible for the content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.