Center for Education Projects PIU The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports

On June 4, the World Bank team, accompanied by CEP PIU representatives visited educational institutions of the RA Armavir region. Monitoring of the implemented and current work, carried out within the framework of the World Bank co-financed " Education Improvement Additional Financing" loan project, was in the context of the visits. Also the objective of the visits was to meet with principals, teachers, and students to understand how resources were utilized by them, what challenges they were currently facing. In Particular Task Team Leader Shizuka Kunimoto, Consultant Anna Malkhasyan, as well as Project Manager of the Center for Education Project PIU Armine Khachatryan, Head of the sub-component “Equipping General Education Schools” Mher-Melik-Bakhshyan, were the participants of the visits. The World Bank delegation started the working visit at Myasnikyan secondary school, where a new preschool was established in 2023, and the construction of the playground is underway. The World Bank delegation, accompanied by the CEP PIU Project Manager Armine Khachatryan and program staff toured the preschool, got acquainted with the work done, talked with teachers. The guests were impressed with the final results and with the created conditions. Preschool children spent their days in beautiful and colorful rooms with comfortable shelves and closets, full of educational materials and toys. The World Bank task team leader Shizuka Kunimoto noted that the establishment of preschools as a result of such programs, is an important precondition for having educated citizens tomorrow. Members of the WB delegation toured the classrooms where the establishment of ICT and Engineering laboratories (Physics, Chemistry, Geography and Biology) have been summarized.The next stop of the World Bank
delegation was in Dalarik secondary school where new preschool and STEM laboratories were established and the construction of the playground is underway.The director of the school has assured that the construction works of the playground were carried out in accordance with the set schedule and the quality requirements of the contract, and they were in their initial stage. The playground will be fully operational at the start of the new academic year, providing more comfortable conditions and pleasant environment for 4-6 year-old children living in the community.Let's add that at the moment the construction of playgrounds is underway in 7 preschools, which were established in 2023.It should also be noted that 21 micro-projects for the establishment of new preschools in Yerevan and in RA regions are currently underway.
In Dalariksecondary school, members of the WB delegation toured the classrooms where the new furniture and ICT and Engineering laboratories have been installed. As a result of the project, the school received 4 science laboratories for the subjects "Physics", "Chemistry", "Biology", "Geography".The guests were impressed with the final results and with the created conditions. Task Team Leader Shizuka Kunimoto highly appreciated STEM-related educational reforms: “Armenia's efforts in the field of education reforms, are highly valuable and have produced impressive results.”
It should be noted that it is also planned to conduct the training of the teachers involved in STEM laboratories as well as to develop and provide training materials for teachers and directors, along with a user-guides and demonstration videos, on operating and maintaining laboratory equipment, as well as using it along modern teaching methodologies and digital learning materials in the classrooms.