1500 students and 150 teachers benefited from workshops in Shirak, Lori and Kotayk marzes

Khan Academy Armenia has completed its series of free workshops for students and teachers in Lori, Shirak and Kotayk marzes. The initiative has been carried out with “People in Need” NGO as part of the EU-funded “Covid-19 Solidarity Program for Eastern Partnership” programme. 

The series of workshops, organized in conditions of the pandemic-induced restrictions and difficulties, aimed to expand the applicability of Khan Academy’s free online educational resources in the Armenian language via enhancing a comprehensive and efficient use of the platform's opportunities and tools as well as modern methods of teaching and learning among teachers and students. 

To ensure utmost relevance and the largest possible number of beneficiaries, the workshops were conducted in the three marzes of Armenia that have the greatest number of schools, students and teachers, after Yerevan, and have hosted a large number of the displaced following the 2020 Artsakh War.

The closing events were held at Kotayk governor’s office, Vanadzor Technology Center (VTC) and Gyumri Technology Center (GTC), and summarized the program results for Kotayk, Lori and Shirak marzes accordingly. Between September 2021 and April 2022, 1500 students and 150 math and natural science teachers from middle and high schools in three marzes were involved in the project. 

At the closing events, certificates were awarded to all teachers who completed the training. In the near future, five active participants will be selected from each marz to serve as Khan Academy's ambassadors and have the opportunity to share their expertise within other projects.

The results of the contest organized for the 5th -12th graders from the selected marzes have been officially summarized as well. Certificates of appreciation were awarded to those who received 100,000 and more scores at Khan Academy platform, and special prizes to the top four scorers from each marz. Among the four winners in Kotayk Marz and all participating marzes, Mari Matevosyan had the highest score (7,077,880). In Lori marz, Mariam Yaribekyan set the highest threshold with her 3,101,482 score, and in Shirak marz, Lyova Karapetyan with his 6,612,356.

On April 11, at the end of the event in Gyumri, Sona Koshetsyan, executive director of the Ayb Educational Foundation, expressed her contentment over the opportunities created for an impressive number of the workshop participants: "With EU funding and jointly with People in Need, we have worked closely with the students and teachers in three marzes to efficiently introduce modern educational technologies that promote the culture of self-learning. I hope this success, achieved by the teachers and students, will pave their further educational path.”

Tinatin Japaridze, regional director of the “Covid-19 Solidarity Program for Eastern Partnership” of the “People in Need” NGO, attached great importance to the project: “We implement various projects in Armenia, but this stands out, since it enables us to work in various fields simultaneously and in response to the pandemic. We are happy to contribute to this effort.” 

Armine Hovhannisyan, a project participant and a teacher at Vanadzor Special School of Advanced Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, shared that the training had been a success, “I enjoyed listening to the trainers and completing the assignments. One of the final topics was the flipped classroom method. Despite having attended several other classes on this topic, I would single out Ayb’s format as a unique one. We’ve been using Khan Academy’s platform in a hybrid format; the children are free to master their time while completing assignments, which, I believe, is conductive to a more pleasant learning.” 

Mari and Arpi Matevosyan- two sisters representing Kotayk marz with two best results and having scored 7,077,880 and 5,001,011 accordingly- mentioned that their initial goal score was three million, but after promptly crossing that threshold, they continued until they could reach their highest possible benchmark.

Khan Academy Armenia, which is the Ayb Educational Foundation’s project on localization of electronic resources, pursues a primary objective to ensure free quality education in the Armenian language for students and teachers, enhance access to online resources and thus contribute to the establishment of an independent learning culture. Since 2017, Khan Academy Armenia has been localizing various exercises, video tutorials, articles and other educational materials on natural sciences, arts and humanities that are freely accessible to everyone, everywhere.