The Melkonian Tragedy

By Vatche Semerdjian

It is wrong to say that hearing the news that the Melkonian Educational Institute will be closed definitely surprised us. It was not a surprise. We were waiting. We read the press release with a deep sorrow.

Most of the graduates, the student body, former and actual teachers, half of the Armenian community of Cyprus, the portion of AGBU membership for whom the  Armenian school has a meaning, are witnessing the sorrowful tragedy of our diasporan educational life.

The intention of selling the school and turning its property into money is not new. All previous attentions did not materialize because actions to prolong  the life of the institute were taken sincerely. Today the conditions are different, and the people who make the decisions are different.

A new phenomenon is forming in the hierarchy of AGBU. The dangerous and wrong  assumptions that an educational entity should be lucrative and profitability is seen an essential factor for prolonging the life of a school, should lead us to close all the schools of the diaspora.

That was not the understanding of AGBU leadership not so far ago. Alex Manoogian used to approach with deep commitment and personal interest the present and the future of the schools and rectified their errors. That was the secret of handling educational matters then. Members of the AGBU Central Board of  Directors used to look to their president for leadership and inspiration, whenever  there were educational problems in the agenda. It is not a secret that establishing and keeping a healthy school in the diaspora require enormous fate, dedication, sacrifice and vision.

Moreover, a private AGBU school should not try to justify its existence in  front of the Central Board of Directors. On the contrary, the Central Board of  Directors should secure the schools existence, according to its aims and  according to its benefactors, who have donated money and made their wills to AGBU.

The school in Watertown was closed with the pretext that the community was not supporting it, meanwhile two day schools are flourishing now in the same  community. The AGBU School in Toronto is disappearing while the other school in the same city managed by the ARS is flourishing and getting a new building.

The same situation is occurring in Greece and Australia.

Something is rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark. The question is: does the Central Board of Directors of AGBU have faith in education anymore? Is it that the calibrating of apparatus has been changed in the leadership of AGBU? Is it that talking about challenges has transformed into a pastime? Is it that  enumeration of pretexts and unfounded reasoning to justify the funeral of a school,  is the modern way of persuasion? Was Melkonian Educational Institute in such a  web of mistakes that it was not possible to save it? Did the Central Board of  Directors really do its best to correct the mistakes, reduce over-expenditure or seek new funds for the school?

The answers? They are not pleasant.

There is no need to answer. The Melkonian is the fifth educational entity that this same Board of Directors has closed or sold in the last two decades.

Enviable progress. In the 1950s and the following 35 years during the presidency of Alex Manoogian, a joy and a sense of pride prevailed in diaspora. The 1980s and the subsequent 20 years brought the sadness of the closure of five educational entities. Soon, Melkonian will become a memory.

It is a national tragedy. It is an uncorrectable mistake. It is an unforgivable apathetic weakness of will. It is a cheap and easy solution, whose victim  is the 80-year-old Melkonian Educational Institute.

(Vatche Semerdjian is the editor of Nor Nor Weekly, an ADL publication in the  West Coast.)