Armenia`s Education Minister updates Prime Minister on progress of education development program

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan  chaired a meeting to discuss the implementation of the  Action Plan of the state program for the development of education in  the Republic of Armenia until 2030.

As reported by the press service of the Prime Minister's office, the  Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Zhanna  Andreasyan, stated that the work was carried out in three main  directions: access to education with an emphasis on infrastructure  development of and content  improvement , enhancing the effectiveness  of education and internationalizing educational services and  products. According to the Minister,  a total of 101 events were   carried out, as per the numerical data. 

Within the framework of ensuring access to preschool education, the  number of settlements without preschool education services has been  reduced from 229 to 162. Additionally, a pilot program is planned to  organize preschool education for 195 children aged 0 to 2 years in 10  institutions ( Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor and Hrazdan) in 2025-2026.  The coverage of children aged 3 to 5 years by preschool institutions  has increased, reaching 75%. In the <500 kindergartens> program,  construction of 195 has been completed, with 136 currently under  construction, and 64 in the preparatory stage. Within the framework  of the <300 schools> program, 44 schools (serving about 15,000  students) and 19 gyms (about 6.5 thousand students) have been  commissioned. Currently work is underway in 31 schools, with  construction beginnning in 150.  Furthermore, 44 schools and 29  sports halls have been provided with property. As part of the process  of creating natural science and information technology laboratories,  648 schools already have equipped laboratories as of the end of last  year.

As for access to vocational education, it has been reported that  14.6% of vocational educational institutions have undertaken efforts  to improve the conditions of buildings, 7 vocational educational  institutions have received laboratory facilities and equipment for  comprehensive vocational training, and scholarships in the amount of  50,000 drams have been granted for priority specialties.  As a result  of  implementing the program to encourage students studying in  professional pedagogy programs in  natural sciences, technology,  engineering and mathematics, 304 students were admitted to  universities in the 2024/2025 academic year. This number represents a  21% increase from the previous academic year. Over the past 2 years,  a total of 621 students have benefited from the program: 160 at the  bachelor's level and 461 at the master's level, 76 of whom are  studying with honors and have received a scholarship of 77,000 drams. 

Touching on teachers' salaries, the head of the Ministry of  Education, Science and Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan stated  that 60% of teaching staff have completed mandatory advanced training  courses.  Additionally,  20% of teachers are already beneficiaries of  the voluntary certification system, with other programs in effect for  teachers of various subjects, natural sciences, and a small number of  rural schools.  Efforts to increase the attractiveness of the  teaching profession have resulted in the hiring of 3,300 new teachers  in schools, with 56% placed in rural schools. Incentive programs have  also been successful, 56.7% of first-time applicants by 2024. The  number of teachers who received  classification will be 285 people  (2.8 times more than in 2023). 59 teachers  received the 4th category  of classification. In 2023, voluntary certification was also launched  in art and sports schools.