VZCZCXRO2184
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0222/01 0861241
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271241Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8874
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000222 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/PPD, EUR/CARC, ECA/A/E/EUR 
 
E.O.:  12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KPAO SCUL AM
 
SUBJECT:  GOAM CREATES HIGH SCHOOLS; ADDS TWO YEARS OF SCHOOLING 
 
¶1.  Summary:  The Government of Armenia has announced the opening of 
150 high schools by the end of 2011.  This new development is an 
incremental expansion of a 2008-09 pilot program which aims to 
improve educational quality and create a 12-year educational system 
roughly modeled on the U.S. experience.  While the expansion of the 
pilot program is a positive step, the Ministry of Education and 
Science (MOES) faces several implementation challenges, including 
displacement of teachers and students, curriculum concerns, teacher 
recruitment and retention, and a potentially negative impact on 
rural students.  End summary. 
 
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50 schools at a time 
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¶2.  In a recent press conference, RA Minister of Education and 
Science Spartak Seyranian announced the opening of 150 high schools 
by the end of 2011.  The schools are the latest development in a 
process that began in 2006 to turn the 10-year Armenian school 
system into a 12-year program aimed at improving the quality and 
efficiency of secondary education and offering additional academic 
support to students.  A year ago the GOAM approved a "Strategy Paper 
on the Creation of a High School System" and announced a pilot 
program of 10 senior high schools in Yerevan and in the regions of 
Shirak, Gegharkunik and Aragatsotn.  The GOAM allocated 8.6 million 
dollars to reform the schools and develop a new curriculum, 
particularly emphasizing math, physics, natural sciences, and the 
humanities. 
¶3.  Based on the pilot program's initial success, largely determined 
by student test scores and public response (after just half a 
year!), the MOES will begin to incrementally open more high schools, 
averaging 50 a year.  By 2012, these 150 high schools will represent 
roughly 10% of Armenia's 1,410 public school facilities.  The 
program is being implemented with the support of the World Bank, 
which has provided funding for curriculum development, new 
textbooks, teacher training, and technological support.  The MOES 
has agreed to renovate schools and pay for the development and 
publication of selected textbooks.  This month, an updated version 
of the reform policy is to be submitted to the RA government for 
final approval. 
----------------------------------------- 
Going the distance for a better education 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Seyranian has publically stressed the MOES' obligation to ensure 
high educational standards.  He has noted that high schools are 
intended to serve as a transition from comprehensive education to 
higher education, and that a 12-year curriculum aims to ensure 
students gain the necessary knowledge and skills to compete at a 
university level.  Seyranian has also stated to the press that, "The 
task of a high school is not to prepare students for entrance 
examinations, but to prepare knowledgeable people capable of 
ensuring the country's progress in a rapidly changing modern world." 
 This generally reflects GOAM emphasis on educational 
competitiveness and the role that it plays in the country's economic 
development, but also addresses parental concerns that the current 
curriculum does not equip students with the skills and knowledge 
required to continue on to higher education.  (Note: many parents 
hire private - and expensive - tutors to prepare their children for 
entrance examinations and stories abound of students, overloaded 
with assignments from their private tutoring, missing their regular 
classes.)  Another commonly expressed grievance is that conventional 
schools fail to prepare graduates for the labor market and fail to 
equip them with skills for independent living. 
 
¶5.  While the program has been positively covered by the press and 
well received by the general public, several challenges remain.  The 
plan is to turn certain designated schools into four-year high 
schools and distribute the students in lower grades to the 
surrounding schools that will be losing their 9th and 10th graders. 
The same will apply to the teachers.  This is certain to create 
dislocations and inconveniences for students and teachers who will 
have to travel farther to their new schools.  Students in rural 
villages may have to travel to neighboring towns for secondary 
school.  Some may be unable or choose not to do so.  Primary schools 
receiving new students may decide for budgetary reasons to increase 
teacher-student ratios rather than employ the surplus teachers.  The 
many educators who teach classes that span 8th and 9th grade will no 
longer be able to do so.  Teachers may not have the background or 
training to prepare students in the new 11th and 12th grades for the 
university.   Finally, curriculum concerns include a potential lack 
of vocational training for students who do not intend to enroll in a 
university and a "too demanding" workload in which students 
potentially could spend up to 36 hours in the classroom per week. 
 
¶6.  COMMENT: How these concerns will be addressed remains to be 
seen.  However, high school reforms are a positive step in meeting 
MOES educational goals and speak to the GOAM's interest in improving 
educational quality in Armenia.  PAS continues to support the MOES 
in educational endeavors, sponsoring Fulbright scholars, and working 
with IREX to place Muskie alumni in advisory positions at the MOES 
 
YEREVAN 00000222  002 OF 002 
 
 
to assist with reforms. 
 
Pennington