Recent structural changes As of June 2019, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Culture have merged.
Ministry of Education and Science The history of the Ministry of Education and Science is best separated into three periods. Beginning with the
First Republic, the Ministry was formed on 24 July 1918 when the
National Council released the composition of the Supreme Executive Body. Not long after in 1919, requested by then Minister
Gevorg Karagyozyan, the Ministry would expand to include arts and antiquities. This structure would follow into the Soviet period, when by decree of the
ASSR Revolutionary Council the People's Commissariat of Enlightenment was established. Besides being renamed to the Ministry of Enlightenment, this system would persist until 1973. Afterwards, elements of the Ministry were formed into the Ministry of Higher and Vocational Education. This split would be reverted in 1988 by the
ASSR Supreme Council, which resulted in the establishment of the Ministry of National Education. The Ministry of National Education did not last long though. Another ASSR Supreme Council decision in late 1990 led to the split into the Ministry of Enlightenment and State Committee for Higher Education and Science. Following
Armenian independence and the formation of the
Republic of Armenia, in 1992 the State Committee for Higher Education and Science was reorganized into the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. In 1995, the Ministry of Enlightenment and prior would be merged into the Ministry of Education and Science.
Ministry of Culture The history of the Ministry of Culture is more convoluted. Ultimately only being established in 1953 during the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, its sectors of authority and structure predated this formation. Before the Ministry's establishment it was part of the predecessors of the Ministry of Education and Science. However, it is to be emphasized that the Ministry of Education and Science still precedes those structures. In the first year of the
First Republic of Armenia's existence, there was no administrative body in charge of cultural affairs. Like stated in the section on the Ministry of Education and Science, this jurisdiction was added to it in 1919. Even into the Soviet administration, cultural affairs would stay departments of subsequent executive offices for
education. This would change with the establishment of the Ministry of Culture in 1953. Given the task of implementation and management of affairs in the field of Culture, Enlightenment, Theatre, Music and Arts. Besides name changes and minor restructuring following Armenia's independence, the Ministry would persist until 2019. == List ==