"MICROSOFT RA" COMPANY ENVISAGES TO COOPERATE WITH RA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

Noyan Tapan
Dec 6, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. A document on a 3-5-year cooperation
will be signed between the RA Ministry of Education and Science and the
"Microsoft RA" company, a branch of the "Microsoft" company, during
the first half of 2008. This information was provided to a Noyan Tapan
correspondent by Grigor Barseghian, the Head of the "Microsoft RA".

In his words, the "Microsoft" plans to declare amnesty for the schools
of Armenia for having used the non-licenced software in approximately
10 thousand computers of those institutions. At the same time, the
RA Ministry of Education and Science will be offered to install
the licenced software packages of that company in the computers
of the schools, to make use of the opportunity for installing new
softwares without restrictions through the website of the "Microsoft"
2-3 dollars annually for one computer. According to G. Barseghian,
the same conditions will work for using the software means of the
"Microsoft" in the internal systems of the educational departments of
the local self-government bodies, and the RA Ministry of Education
and Science. It was mentioned that the systems of internal document
circulation of the RA Ministry of Education and Science and that
of government information are envisaged to be worked out in the
"Microsoft Innovation Center" to open in Yerevan this month.

The Head of the "Microsoft RA" also declared that through the
cooperation with the RA Ministries of Trade and Economic Development,
Education and Science, "Incubator of Enterprises" fund, the "Project
Harmony" organization and a number of private companies, a pilot
program is being implemented in the region of Syunik, which is aimed
at studying the opportunities for using information technologies in
the schools of Armenia. According to G.

Barseghian, the software solutions of the "Microsoft" allow to organize
online and correspondence courses, examinations, to conduct statistics
on schools and pupils through the remotely located computer centers. In
the opinion of G. Barseghian, particularly the schools of remote
villages, where there is a lack of teachers of this or that subject,
are in need of using such technologies.

It was mentioned that the software packages of the "Microsoft"
envisaged for schools are envisaged to be localized (made Armenian)
in the "Innovation Center of Microsoft."