The process of providing forthcoming Armenian generations with a solid and valuable Armenian education requires specialized and competent teachers. Throughout the Armenian Diaspora, the number of qualified candidates for positions in teaching Armenian has gradually decreased in recent years. If this trend continues, Armenian schools will be confronting a major crisis in the near future.
In April 2012, we had announced by a press release that in our effort to find a solution to this problem, we had begun collaborating with Yerevan State University, in order to establish a Master’s program in Armenian Studies. The program would aim at preparing educators skilled in teaching Armenian and Armenian History in diaspora schools. At this time, we are pleased to announce that the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board has co-signed a special agreement with YSU, where the M.A. in Armenian Studies program has been deployed. It is a two-year program with courses encompassing Western Armenian, Armenian literature, history, and culture.
At the same time, we remind potential applicants to the program that the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board has established a scholarship that will cover tuition fees at all levels, as well as living expenses while studying in Armenia. The program is comprised of three phases:
- A student graduating from an Armenian diaspora school, with a good record in Armenian subjects, will have the opportunity to study towards a B.A. degree in Education at a local university (“Licence en Pédagogie” in the French system). During this phase, or at a later stage, the student must follow and complete a Teaching Diploma program (“Diplome d’Enseignement”).
- Next the student will follow and complete the M.A. in Armenian Studies program at YSU.
- Students joining this program will be asked to sign a written agreement in which they agree to teaching Armenian or Armenian history in a diaspora Armenian school for at least seven years upon their graduation.
The program has already had five applicants, who have all begun their studies.
We would like to invite students who have graduated or are about to graduate from Armenian schools and are interested in the program to contact the Hamazkayin Central Executive Board by writing to central@hamazkayin.com, or by calling 00961-4-715684.
We invite all Armenian schools in the diaspora to disseminate the above.
Central Executive Board of Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society
December 20, 2014