- Հայ
- Рус
- Eng
On March 25, Rector of Armenian State Pedagogical University Ruben Mirzakhanyan received Tanja Radocaj, UNICEF Representative in Armenia, Tigran Tovmasyan, DRR Program Officer at UNICEF Armenia, and Armine Ter-Ghevondyan, Education Project Assistant at UNICEF Armenia.
The ASPU Rector hailed cooperation between the sides. He said that the serious feedback and success of the two-day international scientific and practical conference entitled “Inclusive Education: Contemporary Issues and Challenges,” which was organized by the ASPU Faculty of Special Education jointly with UNICEF Armenia, ‘confirm that the cooperation has serious potential.’
Tanja Radocaj also assured the ASPU Rector that the cooperation with Armenian State Pedagogical University would continue in the future. “Both sides are working to build a [brighter] future for Armenia’s next generations. You provide pedagogical education and learning guidance to them and we offer them our projects,” she said adding that the cooperation in the sphere of inclusive education and the progress registered in Armenia make them think about introducing quality inclusive education at this stage.
She stressed that although parents are involved in the education of children, the role of teachers, who receive specialization at this University (ASPU), is no less important, and their joint daily efforts will produce the desired results.
Introducing their new 5-year programme launched in January 2016, Tanja Radocaj stressed that it focuses on the key problems of children with special educational needs: their integration into communities is impossible without the introduction of inclusive schools. “Our main objective is to help the Pedagogical University improve its experience in the sphere of inclusive education, disseminate that experience. We also want to strengthen cooperation between the University and psycho-pedagogical resource centres,” she said.
Speaking about the assistance rendered to the Armenian University, Tanja Radocaj said it has two aspects: on the one hand it supposes a direct partnership with the ASPU; on the other hand, they want to strengthen ties between the Armenian University and one of the leading universities in the world.
In this context, the guest said that UNICEF wants to help Armenia where the Pedagogical University is in the best position.
During the conversation, Mr. Mirzakhanyan stressed that the Pedagogical University is the only academic research centre that deals with special education, though he admitted that there are drawbacks in the sphere which largely reflect the general situation of the country.
The ASPU Rector noted that the University has been able to establish some contacts with relevant centres abroad. Among the existing problems, he singled out public dissent over the subject matter, failure to pay attention to the peculiarities of the country, reduction of the role of preschool institutions during the years of independence, etc.
The sides discussed the upcoming cooperation between the ASPU and the University of Minnesota. The ASPU Rector expressed hope that the cooperation would be most effective.
Tanja Radocaj stressed, in turn, that it would take years of cooperation to achieve the desired results. Education is the only tool that moves a country forward and it is important to have an affordable and quality education system.
The ASPU Rector added that they would work step by step, performing effective work.
Armenuhi Avagyan, Dean of the Faculty of Special Education, ASPU, also expressed satisfaction with the partnership. She is hopeful that the cooperation with the University of Minnesota will bring serious changes in terms of specialization and content.
Within the framework of cooperation, the lecturers of the Faculty will train teachers of inclusive schools and multidisciplinary teams of psycho-pedagogical centers of Syunik marz (province). Also, school curricula will be reviewed and tailored accordingly.
