Armenian President and Minister of Education and Science discussed  problems in relevant sector

ArmInfo.On January 18, the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia Levon Mkrtchian reported to the President on the current situation in the  general and higher education areas, the process of reforms in the  educational system, existing problems, works and innovative programs  aimed at making opportunities for receiving high-quality education in  Armenia affordable for all.

The President had spoken about the  necessity to discuss these issues during his visit to the Quant  college which took place in the end of last year.  

The press office of the Armenian President reports that Minister  Levon Mkrtchian noted the achievements in the area of education and  stressed that thanks to the years-long consisten works it was  possible to keep the "educational clock" running unimpeded. According  to the Minister, that fact allows the Republic of Armenia to appear  before the world as an educational realm which encompasses the entire  kindergarden-general education-higher education-science chain.  

The Minister of Education and Science reported that along with the  traditional centers of excellence such as the network of the schools  with the enhanced teaching of physics and mathematics and such, the  educational sphere has been augmented with serious innovative  educational programs - Araratian Bachelor's program, the idea of  creating an educational cluster in Dilijan.  All this has created a  rather favorable competitive situation. He added that this base  allows to establish centers of excellence.  "Reforms in the area of  general education on one hand are aimed at the elimination of elitism  so that these centers of excellence, as you, Mr. President, have  mentioned on many occasions, become locomotive which will carry along  the entire system, opening new horizons for the Armenian educational  system. Naturally, these works will require a compound reformation  also in the area of higher education. We have two major problems,  which you have mentioned. One is the problem of high school and  transition from the general education to specialized education, and  the second is the transition from higher education to science and  labor market which we provisionally call the Master's degree issue,"  noted Minister Mkrtchian in his report. He spoke in detail about the  works done for the resolution of these issues and about the   forthcoming steps.  

The President concurred with the Minister on the visible, often even  inspiring achievements in the area of education and underscored that  it, however, doesn't mean that there are no problems in the area and  that providing greater attention to the schoolchildren, who come back  with awards from the international subject Olympiads and study with  excellence in schools and later get accepted to the best educational  institution of the world, we can be less attentive and caring about  the other pupils.  

"The objective of school, and I believe this is a very simple truth  but needs to be repeated, is not only to prepare brilliant  scientists, doctors, teachers, austonauts or entrepreneurs; its  primary goal together with the family to prepare citizens of the  Repoublic of Armenia - patriotic, diligent, and law abiding.  

I have said on many occasions and will say again: I believe ignorance  is the root of all human vices. And I trust ignorant is not the  person who has not received sufficient education but the person who  lacks simple moral standards, who lacks elementary knowledge, this is  a real vice. Thanks God, in the Republic the number of individuals  with at the least a medium level of knowledge is increasing, and it  must be that way.  

Today's educational standards are a little different, however  preserving the best, we need to move forward, and add to what we  have. Today, we will dicsuss in detail all problems existing in the  area of education. The Araratian Bachelor program is brilliant, the  centers of excellence are brilliant, but the geography of these  centers should be expanded as well as their driving force. You are  right: we should not allow elitism in our education, moreover in  general education. Yes, there should be educational establishments  which are different from the others. Uniformity is not good. But I  need to repeat: their advantages should become standards for us and a  driving force, a locomotive for others. The entire process for  retraining our teachers should change. The teachers, who are able to  retrain in line with the contemporary standards, certainly, should be  distinguished from others with regard to the attitude towards them  and their wages, and their work should become a standard for the  others. I think we need to check which of our marzes do not have such  high quality establishments and channel our efforts towards creating  such establishements in every marz," said the President of Armenia.  

After the Minister made his report, the President of Armenia tasked  to create an expert group, which will also comprise individuals  involved in the development of the reforms in the area of education,  and to present within six months comprehensive provisions for the  reformation in the area of the higher specialized education. The  implementation of the mentioned provisions will allow to have in  Armenia in the foreseeable future educational establishments which  will have their worthy place on the world's higher education map.