RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Araksia Svajyan participated in the awards ceremony of the Association of Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA) of the 22nd Annual Scientific Olympiad.

The primary objective of the Scientific Olympiad is to stimulate the interest of schoolchildren in engineering and sciences. About 250 students and teachers of RA schools took part in the awards ceremony this year.

RA ESCS Deputy Minister congratulated the winners and thanked the organizers and teachers of the Olympiad for their diligent work.

“We attach importance to such competitions and initiatives that motivate students to engage in science and conduct research. The RA Government pays great attention to the development of education and science: substantive education reforms are currently underway to develop STEM education in public schools. In addition, natural science and engineering laboratories are being established in all schools, which will contribute to conducting research and achieving more tangible results,” said Araksia Svajyan.

The annual Scientific Olympiad is an academic competition in physics, natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and chemistry, which is held for 6-8-grade pupils of basic school and 9-12-grade pupils of high school. Pupils’ projects were assessed on the basis of creativity, scientific approach, comprehension and presentation. Pupils of the 22nd Annual Scientific Olympiad presented 66 research or experimental projects.

The 22nd AESA Science Olympiad was held on April 16 and 17, and the participants from the Republic of Armenia and the USA joined remotely. This year, 133 pupils from 37 basic and high schools took part in the Olympiad, of which 55 became winners. They were given medals, diplomas and monetary awards.

The representative of the Association of Armenian Scientists and Engineers of America Vardan Gevorgyan, in turn, congratulated all the pupils on their hard work and high-quality projects: “We appreciate the teachers, parents, committee members and supporters who made the 22nd AESA Science Olympiad a successful event.”

The awards “School of the Year” and “Teacher of the Year” were defined based on the total number of projects participating in each nomination and level. This year, the prize "School of the Year" was awarded to the International Scientific and Educational Complex “Shirakatsi Lyceum”, and “Teacher of the Year” was awarded to the teacher of school No. 1 of Vanadzor, Nelly Stepanyan.