The rich educational resources of Khan Academy Armenia’s free platform can now be used by 52 schools, 90 teachers and 313 students in Armavir and Gegharkunik marzes. Participating in the series of free workshops of Khan Academy, teachers and schoolchildren of both marzes learned to effectively use the world’s largest online educational platform equipped with world-class quality resources.
The workshops were organized as part of Khan Academy’s initiative within NEF's STRIVE for a Better Future: Communities and Civil Society Resilience in Armenia (STRIVE) program. They aimed to equip the marzes’ teachers and students with modern tools for self-education and hybrid education.
The second goal of this initiative is to enrich the Armenian-language platform of Khan Academy with new natural science and mathematics materials and video lessons by the end of the academic year, making them available to the whole society.
The summary of the workshop program was carried out in two events, which took place in Etchmiadzin’s Eurnekian School and Gavar Secondary School No. 2 named after Papin Ghandilyan. Three teachers from each marz were awarded Khan Academy’s title of ambassador teacher, which gives an opportunity to most actively engaged professionals to share their experience in the communities. In addition to the training courses, a month-long student competition was organized, allowing children to learn and measure their knowledge growth.
Galina Jahinyan from M. Mashtots School No. 1 in Vagharshapat was recognized the best with 2,417,950 points in Armavir marz, while Mari Gharibyan from Vardenis Basic School No. 4, with 10,050,390 points was the best in Gegharkunik marz. This is the best indicator among all participants of Khan Academy's student competitions.
During the sum-up event, Sona Koshetsyan, executive director of the Ayb Educational Foundation, stated that she was pleasantly surprised by the children's desire to learn on a non-compulsory educational platform: "I am glad that Khan Academy strengthens both teachers’ and students’ desire for self-education."
According to Sonya Budaghyan, head of Armavir Provincial Government's Department of Education, Culture and Sports, it is the first time that schools take part in Khan Academy’s marz workshops: "I am delighted by such a result. Effective and quality education is the most important thing. I hope that all the participants of the program will spread their knowledge of such educational resources and opportunities."
Arpine Baghdoyan, country director at Near East Foundation Armenia, highlighted that quality educational resources and achievement of high standards are key to the country's development and future: "We are glad that our program gave us the opportunity to support and contribute to the spread of this beautiful educational platform in the marzes."
The STRIVE for a Better Future: Communities and Civil Society Resilience in Armenia (STRIVE) program is co-financed by the European Union and implemented by NEF Belgium in partnership with the AGAT Center for the Protection of Rights of Women with Disabilities, BLEJAN Environmental, Social, Business Support NGO, Dilijan Youth Cooperation Center, and the Resource Center Foundation for Women’s Development.
To create equal opportunities for education, the Ayb Educational Foundation has been localizing the materials of the world's largest online educational platform, Khan Academy, in the Armenian language since 2017. Khan Academy is available to 135 million users in 190 countries and in 50 languages.