Thanks to Armath the Quality of Technology Education and Creative Thinking in Armenian Regions are Improving
20-12-2018
In 2018, the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) had implemented dozens of programs aimed at supporting the Science, Business and Military industries in Armenia. At the meeting with journalists, while talking about one of union’s strategic directions, Education, Mr.Aleksandr Yesayan, the President of UATE and Mr.Karen Vardanyan, the Executive Director of UATE, highlighted Armath Engineering Laboratories program.
The success of "Armath" program is conditioned by various factors. First of all, each student living in all regions of Armenia is given the opportunity to get an innovative and free education. Then, there are many platforms for students where they work as teams, get acquainted and compete with other schoolchildren, create a wide range of new interests and develop entrepreneurial skills. They have numerous opportunities to communicate with leading IT professionals, build their career path, share ideas with them and discuss concepts of business development. There were also cases when Armath students immediately get employed at these leading IT companies.
Mr.Karen Vardanyan, UATE Executive Director, notes that the number of "Armath" laboratories has already reached the desired "critical number". While Union is doing fundraising to open new labs, many schools invest their funds in installing an Armath lab.
Mr.Alexander Yesayan, UATE President, mentions that after communicating with schoolchildren and getting acquainted with their works, it gets clear that thanks to "Armath" the quality of technology education and creative thinking in Armenian regions are Improving.
"Armath" educational network already involves 250 laboratories and 5,300 students. They are scattered all over Armenia, Artsakh (by the end of the year - 17), Javakhk (2). The laboratories are created thanks to the contributions of UATE and donor organizations, while the Armenian Government covers the salaries of the teachers working in Armenia.
In 2019, the Government will allocate AMD300 million to cover the salaries of teachers of all existing Armath laboratories.
In 2018, UATE conducted numerous training for around 100 teachers of "Armath" in 3D modeling and printing, Robotics, IoT devices, as well as C++ and Python programming languages.
This year, the students of Armath had active participation in DigiTec technology exhibition. At the exhibition schoolchildren from all Armenian regions presented their engineering solutions.
They also participated in DigiCode Youth Programming, 3D Modeling, and Robotics competitions, as well as DigiCamp and Armath Technology Camps.
Educational network of "Armath" Engineering Laboratories got many international awards and victories in 2018.
Armath Regional Team participated in the First Global International Robotics Championship in Mexico, ranked among the top 48 out of 180 participating countries (15th place, according to earned points) and passed to the final round of the championship and ended participation there.
"Armath" also was the winner of the semi-finals of the Eurasian Digital Platforms Annual International Competition and got the Nokia Award.
Currently, UATE is negotiating on the exports of "Armath" educational model with Spain, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, etc.