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A group of public school teachers, who were dismissed in December last year, on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in central Yerevan.

The teachers, who have secondary vocational education, were sacked after their failure to pass the mandatory certification exam.

They demand that they, like teachers with higher education, first undergo training and then be given another chance to pass the certification.

"They mixed up the topics concerning girls and boys without any monitoring or taking into account the opinion of teachers. Do they need girls to learn woodworking and boys to learn embroidery?" said one of the protesters.

She noted she had been teaching only girls for 34 years, while half of the test questions were about subjects meant for boys.

"Everything is mixed up and I am supposed to answer them. How can I answer questions on a subject I have no idea about?" the teacher added.