ArmInfo. During the working meeting with the President of the Republic of Armenia, the Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchyan reported on February 28 on the implementation of President Sargsyan's instructions - quality assurance in general and higher education, and o implementation of innovative projects.
According to the press service of the President, Mkrtchyan said that in 2017, and the government approved a bill on the "State Program for the Development of Education of the Republic of Armenia until 2030", the main goal of which is the formation of a future educational system.
Turning to innovative educational programs, including the Ararat Bachelor Program, Levon Mkrtchyan said that he has already received international recognition. According to the Minister, the National Agency of Great Britain recognized the Ararat Bachelor Program as an internationally recognized program and included it in a unified system of admission to the universities of the United Kingdom.
As for the implementation of another presidential recommendation on the development of cooperation between the public and private sectors in the field of education, the minister reported on the introduction of new programs in this direction. For example, the Tumo Center expanded, in cooperation with Avangard Club, the Digital Planetarium initiative was launched, which plans to train up to 120,000 students of grades 7-11 of regional schools annually to encourage the teaching of natural sciences among students and to promote the preservation and development of the astronomical school. According to the minister, pilot programs of financial and entrepreneurial education are implemented in schools, in which more than 1,400 teachers from 1,260 schools are trained, about 65,000 students participate in pilot projects.
Minister Levon Mkrtchyan also presented works aimed at increasing the effectiveness of teaching foreign languages in order to improve the quality of education. The Minister reported on the construction of a school with in-depth study of the Chinese language. Also, according to the minister, in 2017 the concept of teaching Russian in secondary schools was developed, in cooperation with the Russian Agency Rossotrudnichestvo, courses on teaching the Russian language, as well as programs aimed at increasing the efficiency of teaching the Russian language in general schools, are being implemented.
In six communities of the republic, under the auspices of the United Kingdom, English language clubs have been set up, in which about 400 people study, and about 200 teachers have been retrained. The French language is taught in 10 schools of the republic. As part of the internationalization of education, the Minister of Education and Science announced that, by the decision of the Federal Council for Education and Culture of Germany, by 2018 the secondary school certificate will serve as a basis for continuing studies in German universities. The Minister of Education and Science also reported on the implementation of social assistance programs, noting that in 2017, all schoolchildren of grades 1-12 from 39 communities received free textbooks from the state budget. 1046 students from the border communities provided compensation for tuition fees of 30- 60%, which is about 154 million AMD. 2667 students from socially vulnerable families received from the state compensation for tuition fees in the amount of 50-100%, which amounted to about 655 million AMD.
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