Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Educational Reform To Be Continued In 2012
Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan met today with journalists at the government’s pres center to present the Ministry’s plans for 2012.
According to the minister, this year will see the completion of ongoing processes and the implementation of new steps in the field of education and science. Education quality, affordability, welfare problems, as well as the fight against corruption will be the main targets of reforms. “This is what we are striving for and the outcome of our efforts will be tangible by yearend,” the speaker said.
The Minister of Education and Science informed that 80 pre-school institutions will be opened for 1500 children in the regions this year.
8 thousand teachers will be trained and qualified during the year. 20-25 percent of them will be tested for qualification ranking. “This process started last year. All the teachers will be trained and tested within 5 years. They will get a rise in pay if successful,” the speaker said.
New technologies were said to be introduced in this year. The Internet will be available in 1403 schools. 107 high schools will benefit from Wi-Fi connections.
Speaking of textbooks, the Minister said that all the textbooks used in 1-12 grades will be consolidated in a new electronic database: “We will have a complete database of secondary educational institutions, which along with the technological development shall provide for wide-scale education of students.” The speaker added that schoolchildren in elementary grades will get free textbooks this year thanks to treasury funding.
The speaker further advised that for the first time credit rating will be applied to educational institutions: “This year we will develop the methodology so that we can achieve the proposed target in 2013,” Mr. Ashotyan stressed in conclusion.
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