Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia Araksia Svajyan took part in a panel discussion organized within the framework of the "DigiTec Summit 2022" panel discussion held on March 10-12 at K. Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan.

The objective of the panel discussion was the identification and search for solutions to the education quality issues in the STEM specialization in Armenia.

As a panelist, Araksia Svajyan first referred to the progress, achievements and advancement of the IT sector in Armenia, and then noted that there are also multi-layered and multi-level issues.

“Both this and previous panel discussions show that the private sector is much more flexible and responds faster to challenges as compared to the education system, which is natural. Today's discussion is more about the levels of education, in particular, the continuity and development of professional, university and postgraduate education. I should note that for high-quality and competitive education, we must start with the field of general education. Today, a number of reforms are underway in the field of general education, and the state standard of general education is currently at the implementation stage, which has been piloted in the Tavush region for two years. One of the priority directions of the state standard of general education is the strengthening of the STEM subjects,” noted the ESCS Deputy Minister.

The Deputy Minister also emphasized the importance of primary and secondary vocational education, noting that for many years pupils enrolled in the university directly from school and they had no opportunity to choose a competitive profession in the labor market, and today attempts are being made to fill the gap.

According to Araksia Svajyan, the issues of the sector can be resolved at the level of education content and ensuring the final outcomes.

She also noted that the “RA Education Development State Program until 2030” has already been adopted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Action Plan deriving from the Law "On Approving the State Plan for RA Education Development State program until 2030” is in the approval stage.

During the discussion, Araksia Svajyan touched upon the ultimate goal of the program, and spoke about the vision of forming an effective and internationally competitive education system based on national and universal values, aimed at the development of the Republic of Armenia. The Deputy Minister also detailed the strategic directions of the program: creating a participatory educational environment, enhancing the efficiency of education, internationalization and export of educational services.

Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia David Sahakyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia, Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Tigran Avinyan, Director of the Armenian Office of “EPAM” Beniamin Gyurjyan, “Quantori” Vice President Delivery Operations Artem Khozyainov and “Volo” LLC Co-Founder Armen Kocharyan participated as panelists in the panel discussion on the quality of education in STEM professions in Armenia. The moderator of the discussion was the Head of “America” Management Advisory Tigran Jrbashyan.

It should also be noted that the panel discussion was held in the format of questions and answers and those present had the opportunity to ask their questions to the speakers.

The “DigiTec 2022” Technological Summit has brought together about 120 technological companies and more than 30 speakers from 9 countries.