KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

On the threshold of August consultation meetings at the Pedagogical University the Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchyan met with representatives of education sector, therewith setting the start of the “Teacher” project. The aim of the initiative is to raise the prestige of teachers, improve their social status, contribute to development of their professional skills, etc.

Minister Levon Mkrtchyan mentioned that it had already been two years that the education system reforms were being conducted.

“From the very first days of its independence the Republic of Armenia has formed national state educational system. Our power constitutes in continuous nature of educational reforms. We were able to form such basis for the educational system, which would be measurable, perceptible and understandable today,” outlined the Minister. Likewise he noted that it was already the time to pass to the second stage of reforms, which was also very important. And there the main issue would be the quality, which was a priority for the Ministry.

“We have a few concerns, which are mainly related to the education quality for those pursuing education and professional orientations. It is rather worrying that 70 per cent of BA graduates are representatives of the sphere of humanities, while vast majority of the remaining 30 per cent study information technologies; thus, we have major concerns for preservation of natural sciences”, said Levon Mkrtchyan.

When speaking about the project the Minister observed that in order to increase the role of the teacher in society, the attitude towards them should be changed, otherwise the project would not have the expected results.

Levon Mkrtchyan considered that education system was similar to a clock, where if a small circle went wrong the whole system would go wrong.

According to him education system in Armenia with its demographic geography had developed in rather complicated conditions, starting with the secondary education up to higher education.

Out of 1400 schools there is an immense amount of those with maximum 100 pupils, while in higher education field about 87.000 students are attending more than 65 universities. Levon Mkrtchyan mentioned that it was a serious challenge and difficulty for the quality of education system.

Among those present at the meeting were headmasters and teachers of secondary schools, who were going to come up with suggestions to fully enhance the project during the upcoming meetings.