Saturday, 26 May 2007
Today RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan convened a consultative meeting in the Office of Government to discuss questions connected with the uniform examination system, which will be introduced for the first time as of June 1, 2007. The meeting was attended by the RA Minister of Education and Science and his deputies, the Mayor of Yerevan, marz governors, heads of Yerevan Town Hall's and regional administrations' educational departments, the Director of the Evaluating and Testing Center by RA Ministry of Education and Science, heads of corresponding divisions of the Government Staff. The Prime Minister said that the Government had set itself the task of achieving absolute objectivity in entrance examinations by the year 2009. According to the Prime Minister, this might be achieved through a fully transparent tape-recorded system of centralized examinations, supposed to allow easy tracking of exams and activities of the Evaluating and Testing Center, with the samples of tests to be stored in firmly closed polyethylene packets. Serzh Sargsyan stressed at the same time that irrespective of the level of technical support, each responsible person should prove of maximum exactitude in the exercise of his duties. As assured by the Prime Minister, any deviation from these standards will be deemed as opposition to the policy embraced by the Government. He directed marz governors to urge all those in charge on places to be consistent as much as possible and emphasized that it was a priority for the Government. The Prime Minister also said that the next step on this way would be the streamlining of mid-term examinations.
Then Minister of Education and Science Levon Mekerchyan presented the status of preparations for the upcoming examinations by noting that the Ministry had constantly enjoyed the support of the Government and the Head of Government. The Minister informed meeting participants that video materials had been prepared to familiarize the public with the newly introduced system of uniform examinations. These materials will be widely aired by broadcasting companies. He noted that meetings had already been held with school directors, all the procedures had been specified and, in case of full compliance, the examinations will be completely objective as the new mechanism allowed for no alternatives.
The Prime Minister wanted to know whether meeting participants saw any problems associated with the application of new system and, making sure that both in the capital and in marzes everything was ready for the start-up, he advised that the following meeting would be convened in the wake of this stage of examinations.
