A future where the Armenian educational model is realized in Armenia, shaping individuals with national and universal values, embraced by the Diaspora and recognized for its competitiveness worldwide. The “405 Educational Alliance” Development Foundation signaled the official launch of its activities with this vision.

The event dedicated to the public launch of the “405 Educational Alliance”, uniting a number of leading educational institutions of Armenia, was held at “Alexander” Hotel on March 12, during which the strategy and future goals of the foundation were presented.

Mediamax attended the event and presents important details.

Establishing the truth through the power of education

Still in 2022, when Azerbaijan imposed a blockade on Artsakh committing gross violations of human rights and crimes against humanity, a number of Armenian educational institutions and individuals formed the Civic Initiative for the Right to Education. The goal of the Initiative was to contribute to raising awareness of the international community about the issue. Unfortunately, the tragedy could not be prevented.

Nevertheless, the Initiative marked the beginning of active cooperation and consolidation of leading educational institutions, which was later institutionalized with the creation of the “405 Educational Alliance” Development Foundation.

“Although our efforts at that time were in vain, we realized that uniting in a crisis situation does not save us from the emergence of new crises, therefore, first of all, we must act proactively in times of conditional peace and offer long-term solutions for the education sector. We decided to create a new platform, an alliance to unite the specialists who believe in the vision of achieving truth through the power of education,” Shamam Gevorgyan, CEO of the “405 Educational Alliance” Development Foundation, said in an interview with Mediamax.

Shamam Gevorgyan

Photo: Mediamax

The founders of the “405 Educational Alliance” are seven educational institutions: “Ayb” Educational Foundation, the “Armenian Missionary Association of America” (AMAA), “Teach for Armenia” Educational Foundation, “Simonyan” Educational Foundation (TUMO), “Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology” (FAST), “Armenian Educational Foundation, “The Armenian General Benevolent Union Foundation” Armenian Branch (AGBU Armenia).

The voice of the public in government policy

According to Shamam Gevorgyan, Armenia needs specialized, institutional and viable associations that, on the one hand, will raise the level of public awareness and self-awareness, and on the other one, will promote their own solutions in existing and proposed policies.

“We will try to combine data-based and professional solutions and maybe even contrast them with existing and proposed government policies, and in this regard, our first partner is the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia. We will work using the complementarity method, striving to raise the public voice in the system,” she noted.

Photo: Mediamax

Suzanna Shamakhyan, Executive Director for the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST) and Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the “405 Educational Alliance”, pointed out that currently one of the Foundation’s main goals is the formation and the strengthening of the Alliance by uniting other organizations around it.

“This year we will begin by implementing research and professional consulting work to understand together where our country stands. Based on the results of analytical work, we will identify the main existing problems and begin the process of developing solutions for the implementation of specific programs in certain directions,” she noted.

Suzanna Shamakhyan

Photo: Mediamax

Suzanna Shamakhyan went on adding that the “405 Educational Alliance” will become the platform that will conduct research and consolidate professional opinions, and then present them to government agencies.

“When outlining problems in state policy, we will show potential risks and solutions that we imagine through professional solutions and analysis,” she added.

The event was also attended by Araksia Svajyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, who welcomed the formation of the Alliance in her speech.

Araksi Svajyan

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“This unity will give us, as a Ministry, the opportunity to have expert discussions and counterarguments that we so desperately need. We are really concerned about the objective involvement of experienced people in the field of education,” the deputy minister noted.

Armenianness as a key component

The vision and strategy of the “405 Educational Alliance” are not only about the Republic of Armenia, but also the Armenian nation in general.

“We talk about education in general not from the point of view of forming citizens of the world, but as an important tool for preserving our nation and our culture. Therefore, the Armenian component is key in our vision,” noted Syuzanna Shamakhyan.

Chief Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan also expressed hope that the educational solutions to be formed through the activities of the foundation will at some point be implemented in the Diaspora as well, since there are also serious problems in the educational sector of the Diaspora.

Aram Pakhchanyan and Zareh Sinanyan

Photo: Mediamax

“The Armenian language is declining everywhere, the number of Armenian schools is decreasing. This must be stopped. These realities are conditioned by the change of generations, the aging process of some communities, geographical changes in communities, etc. I think this Alliance has great potential to influence the educational situation in the Diaspora as well,” Zareh Sinanyan told journalists.

It’s time to build a common house

Each of the founding member organizations of the Alliance has managed to make a great contribution to the improvement of the educational sector in Armenia over the years, but as the members of the Alliance emphasize, unification in this format will unlock potential in new ways and allow organizations to do things that were impossible to do separately.

“In the course of our activities each of us faces various problems, the solution of which is beyond our authority; maybe the organization does not have the potential to do it, or the mission has a different direction altogether. However, given our common desire to contribute to the development of Armenia and the role of education in it, we realized that we could do much more by uniting,” said Suzanna Shamakhyan.

Photo: Mediamax

The long work that preceded the launch of the Alliance allowed the founding members to better understand each other, to discover each other, and high-level discussions on complex and ontological issues became the basis for unity.

“We have all reached a stage where we have realized that what each of us does without a common context is similar to when people get together to build a house, but each one is building their own room.

Aram Pakhchanyan

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But where is the house? We realized that it was time to build this house,” noted Aram Pakhchanyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of “Ayb” Educational Foundation.

From “Why?” to “How?” and the result

Shamam Gevorgyan emphasized that during the formation of the Alliance, there were many “whys”, but the founders tried to follow each question and find consensual answers. After that, they moved on to the “what” and “how” and outlined practical steps leading to the goals.

“For us, the primary strategic direction is educational policy and public control, the second is research and analysis, and the third is the construction and cooperation of an educational network. These are spiral, interconnected processes that mutually determine each other,” noted the Executive Director of the Foundation.

She clarified that the founding organizations and members of the Foundation’s advisory board have come to the conclusion that comprehensive studies of the problems and the current situation in the field of education are not carried out, and decision-making relating to educational processes is not sufficiently research-based.

Photo: Mediamax

That is why the “405 Educational Alliance” has established that it will become a research center and conduct research, transmit it to the public, the professional community and the government, thus supporting the implementation of government programs.

The Foundation has outlined a number of desirable results to be reached by December 2027, including: forming a developed policy aimed at improving public education, creating a platform for the promotion of educational policies, forming professional committees, forming a consulting organization at the state level, developing public control mechanisms, etc.

“First of all, we have agreed that in “405” we will decide everything by consensus. Although this is an extremely complex process, we are committed to always maintaining an open dialogue on all disagreements until we reach an agreement,” noted Suzanna Shamakhyan.

The “405 Educational Alliance” Development Foundation is open for new members. Those wishing to join can fill out an application for membership.

Gayane Yenokyan

Photos by Emin Aristakesyan