Diaspora Armenian teachers’ training should become more targeted, says Arayik Harutyunyan
2018-07-27
Today Khachatur Abovyan Armenian State Pedagogical University hosted an event dedicated to the completion of the Diaspora Armenian teacher training. Arayik Harutyunyan, the RA Minister of Education and Science, welcomed the participants and handed them certificates. The Minister mentioned in his speech that Diaspora Armenian teachers edify Armenians by their knowledge, experience, and commitment both in the homeland and in Diaspora.
The Minister, expressing confidence that the knowledge and skills gained due to the training will contribute to the development of Armenian education and Armenian pedagogy said, "Improving the Armenian teacher in the Diaspora training program is one of the most crucial issues. It has been implemented since 2000, during which about 1,500 teachers from 36 countries of the Armenian Diaspora have been trained. As a result of the training, some communities have completely reformed the teaching principles and methodologies which have contributed to improving the quality of education. In addition to the achievements at hand there still remain a lot to accomplished, i.e., the training should become more targeted based, to fully reflect the demands of the Diaspora teachers’ specializations.”
Arayik Harutyunyan emphasized, “Even though the Diaspora has supported greatly in those days and has had it fair share of essential contributions, I am convinced that you share the enthusiasm we currently feel in Armenia. Hopefully, you will share with your students what you have experienced in your motherland these days by integrating them into the inner-Armenian circles. Perhaps for the first time, Armenia's domestic political life has become the agenda of the whole Diaspora, and this is the greatest achievement for the development of our Diaspora and, most importantly, to repatriation.”
It is worth mentioning that the Diasporan teacher training program is an annual State program, which, this year, has been spearheaded by the Khachatur Abovyan Armenian State Pedagogical University.
The program, which lasts for a month, has been operating since 2000. Since 2002 it has been funded by the RA State budget, and because since 2009 the provided funding has increased, the Government of Armenia fully covers the expenses of the teachers’ one-month-stay and educational programs. However, teachers or educational institutions are responsible for travel expenses.
The training classes were headed by the Pedagogical University and the National Institute of Education.
This year, 58 teachers from 15 countries participated in the program- 57 of which received Certificates of Completion and one of them a Certificate of Participation. The participants were from the USA Australia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Denmark, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Canada, Jordan, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Georgia and France. The great majority of teachers were trained for the first time by this program.
This year the training was conducted in six educational categories: kindergarten, elementary education, one-day schools, Armenian Language and Literature, an organization of supplementary education and Armenian history. Each category was comprised of 120 classroom hours.
